Kissed by Fire
by YouNeverCanTell
Summary: [Azula x Ty Lee] The ballad of a late Avatar, a civil war, a game of thrones, a rogue princess, a not-so-faux romance, and the bitter fact that no two people feel the same way at the same time. [AU]
1. Chapter 1

_**AN**_**:** _This is my first fanfiction. It's a romantic political thriller inspired by Game of Thrones, that is meant to present a more adult version of the show that delves deeper into the world and even deeper into Fire Nation infighting.  
_**_Pairing:_** Azula/Ty Lee-centric. Mai/Zuko, Katara/Jet, Yue/Sokka, and prominent one-sided Aang/Azula.  
**_AU: _**_Aang wakes one year late, and the world suffers the consequences.  
_**_Beta: _**_FanfictionVillainess  
_**_Warnings: _**_violence, realistic teenagers, mature themes.  
_**_Disclaimer: _**_I don't own A:tLA._

* * *

**Kissed by Fire  
**

"We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy."  
(George RR Martin, _A Game of Thrones_)

* * *

On a chilly, indigo night in the Earth Kingdom, a Water Tribe girl stares aimlessly into the thick trees.

Katara sits around the fire, as she gazes, sighing in frustration and toying with her lower jaw. She never thought she could hate fire more, solely because it both helps and hurts her. It keeps her alive through the night, but it will always leave a foul taste in her mouth. As she sits silently, her brother and father are rummaging around in the camp with a ragtag group of other members of the rebellion. They have been attacking supply lines, attacking soldiers, doing everything they can.

Sokka went to fight in the war and, of course, Katara told him that there was no way he was going alone. They bickered for nearly an hour before the sun was close to setting and Sokka cut his losses.

"Could you take any longer?" Katara says mostly to herself as Sokka passes her with his hands full with nails to pitch tents.

"I'm not the one who was making fancy splashes all day instead of working," Sokka replies sharply and Katara takes a deep breath. He has a point. She has been more focused on trying to waterbend than she has been on work for the rebellion.

Katara is the last waterbender of her tribe. And, therefore, lacks the skills to use her bending in a real fight. The Northern Tribe wants nothing to do with the war, the rebellion or their sister tribe. They are the last civilization standing that is not property of the Fire Nation, and they want to keep it that way. Katara has frozen a few soldiers before, made distractions, but she only has the moves she makes up. And every day she feels more like a burden on the rebellion and she feels if she can just master waterbending, she won't just be an outspoken accessory weighing down her companions.

"We have news," Hakoda declares and Katara's ears perk up. She has found that she has been left out of the loop more often than she would like to be. "After their victory, Fire Lord Ozai is sending Princess Azula on some kind of political tour. She's vulnerable."

"Vulnerable exactly how?" Sokka raises an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure she took down Ba Sing Se herself during the comet."

"She's away from home. Traveling constantly. We have the exact order of the stops in the tour," Hakoda says calmly and Katara narrows her eyes. "Our friends in the Fire Nation are going to strike. This might be enough to cause their Civil War."

"Why are you telling us if it's happening in the Fire Nation? It's not like we can just prance in," Sokka says and Hakoda breathes in slowly due to his son's disrespect. He and Katara have much to learn.

"Because I'm sending you both back to the Southern Water Tribe," Hakoda explains and Katara's cobalt eyes flash. She _cannot _go back after experiencing the world. She can't. "It won't be safe if the Civil War starts. And trust me, if we don't get to the princess, someone will."

Katara frowns into the fire.

She knew this day would come; Hakoda said he would send his children home if things became too dangerous.

Yet, after all she has seen, she does not think she could ever be content staying out of the fight.

* * *

"This is all unnecessary," Azula says regally to her father across the dining room table. "Completely unnecessary. It isn't as if they'll stop obeying us. Especially after, what is it we did? Oh, right, won the war last year."

Ozai is not convinced. Or perhaps he knows, as he examines his daughter through his glass of wine. She has not eaten her food yet, but she has massacred the meat in her long speech about how displeased she is with the arrangements. Her rage intrigues him; it is so controlled, yet so, so vicious and petty.

"People like you. You're beautiful and know how to exploit people," Ozai says, shrugging. "I think you should put that to use if you want the throne. Particularly now that your brother has returned."

"Returned to prison. Well, with invisible bars, but a prison all the same. Father, I find it hard to believe that Zuko will _ever _be Fire Lord," Azula says, pushing her plate away. She has nothing resembling an appetite. "And my mystery engagement? How clever of you to not forewarn me who I'm marrying so I can't try to sabotage it."

"Azula, I accept your input when it involves placement of soldiers and words for my speeches, _but_ you're growing... indignant. You will go on tour, and you will spread a love for the Fire Nation now that we are an empire." Pause. Ozai swirls his glass around, examining it and ignoring his daughter. She masks her anger well, but he can sense it radiating from her like an icy heat. "Don't question me. I have reason for all of this."

Azula sighs, and says, "I'll be going to my room, father."

He does not protest, although he finds it rude. Azula does not usually speak to him like that; she is too afraid that he will remove the throne from her future. But he finds that he _is _softer for her, and does allow her to get away with more than he should. It adds to his sinking paranoia; if she thinks the throne is _granted_... it... hmm.

Ozai reassures himself by deciding that she is clearly just disgruntled about being forced to do _anything_. But he reigns absolute over her life, deciding everything she does, down to how much she is allowed to sleep or do. Relinquishing control will be impossible for him, which is exactly why in the night, as Azula lies in her bed, tossing and turning, Ozai confronts two girls sitting with their legs crossed in a parlor.

The parlor is a more casual setting for what he is about to ask for. One girl seems to find it very exciting, the other is displaying no emotion in the slightest. He has done this before; distractions in order to spy, in order to keep people in line. Azula is clever, but she is just as susceptible.

They both seem reasonably eager to join Azula on the tour. But, of course, Ozai has more to be planned.

"You're going under the paperwork of bodyguards. That's what the head of the tour believes; that's what I'll tell Azula," Ozai says, examining them closely.

Mai cocks an eyebrow; Azula will never believe she needs a bodyguard. She is the most powerful firebender in history, and Mai finds it low in likelihood that Azula would _ever _need two teenage girls protecting her. Ty Lee is oblivious to the ridiculous aliases, and she seems pleased and honored for her job.

"So, we report back to you... and?" Mai asks, trying to sound polite but coming off as uncaring. It is not her fault that her parents beat her emotions out of her.

"And make sure Azula stays on task," Ozai replies, giving the girls both a glance that solidifies their loyalty.

Azula may be their friend, but they are loyal to Ozai at this point beyond her. The repercussions for losing his favor are much higher in stakes.

Ozai retires to his room, having the girls escorted out after his lengthy speech about their rules, and hopes for sleep.

He has been getting increasingly less of it since the comet.

As Mai and Ty Lee pack their bags to go on tour, Azula paces in her room. She tries to go through what her choices could possibly be. She needs to know _why _she is being displayed like a dress up doll of the Fire Nation, and she needs to know _why _her father will tell her nothing about who she is being forced to marry.

It is because he fears her, she finally decides. He thinks she plans to usurp him, in the paranoia that has set in of late. Since the comet, her father has been exposing trusted generals as standing against him, which Azula finds entirely ridiculous.

He fears Azula, doesn't he? Ozai thinks that if he does not put her on display on order her to go on a ludicrous tour of celebration and a show of good faith to the resettled colonies, she will plot against him. Azula almost laughs when she realizes it.

Then again, she supposes it was inevitable eventually. She recalls the thousand times that she, as crown princess, was forced into political events. It was not for people to genuinely hear her opinion, or for her to grow as the girl next in line to be Fire Lord; it was to show her off as her father's accessory.

And this tour is exactly that.

Azula sighs after going over it in her head endlessly and flops down on her bed. Tomorrow she will wake early, be made up to the point of a beauty queen and not a formidable princess who was vital in the assault during Sozin's Comet, and then she will take the royal procession west.

First west, then east, then into the Earth Kingdom. It will be lengthy and painful. And in the east, before she heads into the Earth Kingdom, her father promises to announce her engagement. It is elaborate, showy and exactly the kind of thing that Ozai would do to his daughter.

She is restless in the night. Finally, prying herself out of bed and deciding that sleep is pointless, she creeps down the hallway towards her brother's room. He was brought home before the assault during Sozin's Comet. Ozai may have killed his father and in succession his wife, but he would not kill his own children. Patricide is one thing; floricide simply _too _wicked.

Azula knocks on the door, wrapping one arm around herself. At first there is no sound, but finally there is motion behind the heavy and ornately carved wood. Zuko opens the door, rubbing his eyes. Azula's golden eyes linger briefly on his scar after he removes his fists from his face.

"What do you want?" Zuko sighs, leaning against the doorframe. "You've come to mock me?"

"Maybe." Azula invites herself into his bedroom. He sighs again and shuts the door behind her. "I want to discuss something with you."

"I didn't know I was promoted to your advisor," Zuko rasps and Azula glares at him. She sits down on his bed, swirling her fingers around the blankets.

"This ridiculous tour I'm going on... I want you to do something in my absence..."

Miles away, "This is good for you," Mai's father says and Mai rolls her eyes. Of course. "Bodyguard for Princess Azula is an admirable position. Would I prefer you marry a prince? Yes. But, it is impressive for your credentials."

_For his credentials_, Mai thinks, but she does not show her thoughts on her face.

"I'm only doing it because I have to," Mai responds earnestly. "I'd really rather stay in the Fire Nation to be honest."

"I know you would," mother says in an artificially high pitched voice. Mai fights the urge to roll her eyes and nearly crushes her molars from clenching her jaw so forcefully. "But you honestly need to think about your future more often."

"I know," Mai says before slipping up to her room. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

Her first job for Fire Lord Ozai was watching Zuko. And to this day, that has been what she is doing. Making sure he does not strike out. Why Ozai believes that Azula needs to be watched like that, Mai finds ridiculous. Azula is far from a threat to Ozai, although she may be a threat to everyone else.

Watching Zuko, sleeping with Zuko, realizing she has a multitude of mushy feelings for Zuko. _And _Mai knows she is being forced to pack up with Azula because she has gotten too close to Zuko. It interferes with her ability to do business properly.

Mai sighs and figures she should finish packing. None of her material items matter much to her. She has been showered with them since her youth and money has no meaning to her. Moving back to the Fire Nation after the fall of the entire region angered her father, but Mai has been pleased so far.

She looks at the letters she and Zuko have written. His are pathetic attempts to sound romantic; hers are... well, what they would be coming from her. He has been the best thing about her return before the comet. Azula's victorious power rush after consuming Ba Sing Se in bright blue was incredibly grating.

Mai cares about the princess more than she cares about most things, but Azula's ambition has been spiraling out of control recently. Ozai fears her. If Azula did not love her father, she would have usurped him after the comet.

Mai knows it.

Morning comes far too quickly. Ty Lee is peacefully sleeping when her mother all but forces her out of bed. She blinks with her round eyes and glances around, dazed and confused. Her room, pink frills and red, garnet studded vanity, and clothes on the floor, is about to be removed from her.

"Are you packed? The royal procession leaves in two hours," mother says gently, removing Ty Lee's hair from its braid. She starts to re-do her daughter's hair after combing through it with a golden brush.

Ty Lee picks at her lips, squinting at herself in the mirror. This mission excites her in a number of ways. It has been a long time since she has seen Azula. She ran away to the circus, only to come back briefly before the comet. And Azula was waiting for her. Angry beneath the surface, abandoned. But her friends were here and Ty Lee was happy.

And now she is about to go on an amazing vacation with both of them. _Plus_, bodyguard work sounds even more exciting than contortion and acrobatics. She is shaking in her seat as her mother finishes her hair, now wide awake from her rush of jitters.

"I'll miss you, mom, but now I'm going to go on a fantastic adventure!" Ty Lee chirps while she gets dressed. She slings her bag over her shoulder and picks up her two extra bags.

"Have fun," mother says, the same thing she said when Ty Lee declared she was joining the circus. It is rather nice to have little parental supervision, even if Ty Lee hates being ignored.

Azula sits very still, her hair being done slowly. A tremendous amount of effort goes into making it perfect. Her eyelashes are done to the point that they are almost bigger than her eyes. She finds the eye make-up distasteful, and it stings her eyes if she blinks for too long.

"Hello, princess," a gravelly voice says behind her. Mai invites herself into the room. "Are you excited?"

Azula laughs mirthlessly as Mai smirks faintly.

"This is one of the worst days of my life," Azula sighs, examining her freshly lacquered fingernails. "I don't think I could be less pleased about something if my father revoked the throne from me."

Mai does not tell Azula that the princess is exaggerating greatly. But she settles in place and watches the absolute absurdity that is seven servants readying one girl. One girl who looks like she would bite off one of their fingers if they mess up.

"If you stab me with that pin again, I will put it right through your eye," Azula says sharply, bringing the woman adjusting the top of her shirt to nearly the point of tears. Mai chuckles in response.

Azula gives more orders as Mai finds herself amused. Ty Lee arrives like a tornado and Azula slips out of the room before she has to deal with her. Mai narrows her eyes at it; she finds herself curious about Azula's sudden discomfort about being around Ty Lee. Likely she's pissed about the circus, or maybe something else. Reading people is Azula's thing, not Mai's.

"You should say goodbye to Zuko," Ty Lee says after listing everything she has packed in her bags, all of which seems frivolous. "You won't be back for a long time."

"It's not like we're together anymore. It was all a sham that the Fire Lord put me up to," Mai says, rubbing her temples. She does not want to face Zuko today. Or any day for that matter.

"I still think you should say goodbye," Ty Lee replies in a sing-song tone and Mai groans. She puts her foot down and Ty Lee feels Mai will regret it for a long time to come.

"Not happening," Mai replies and Ty Lee frowns for a flicker of a second.

"Well, we should probably get going." Ty Lee grabs her bags again, having an easy time carrying them despite their weight. Mai rolls her eyes and follows.

* * *

"That was a good speech," Ty Lee comments brightly to Azula. The princess shrugs.

"I've done better," she says, standing at the precipice of their journey. They are on the other side of the Caldera, soldiers set up, an endless entourage.

"We're not _walking _to the other side of the country, are we?" Mai catches up to them after being locked in an uncomfortable conversation with Zhao.

Admiral Zhao. Who is going to be overseeing the protection of Princess Azula, and most likely is _also _a spy for Fire Lord Ozai. He simply cannot get enough spies.

"Of course not. Well... I'm not at least," is Azula's reply with a small smirk.

Zhao walks forward, passing Mai who feels a shiver being near him. He just seems _creepy _to her. Ty Lee finds him "icky".

"These are your bodyguards. Apparently, they're... competent," Zhao says, introducing people Azula has known since she was seven years old to her as if it is a brand new development. Azula examines him in a way that would intimidate most humans, but he seems to think he can stand up to her. That displeases the princess greatly.

"I don't consider them my bodyguards," Azula sighs, examining her fingernails pointedly as she speaks. "You think I need bodyguards? I took out the entire army surrounding Ba Sing Se singlehandedly. This is clearly a ploy by my father to keep me in check."

"You are the Fire Lord's young daughter, regardless of your bending," Zhao says and Mai thinks the man is going to get electrocuted to death. But Azula simply narrows her eyes.

"I have entirely no need for a bodyguard. This tour is a joke. This engagement is a sham. And you... stay out of my way."

Zhao grits his teeth.


	2. Chapter 2

Katara wakes up and it takes her a moment to realize where she is, amongst the ash and the blackened trees. She never got used to being away from the ice and snow. And although half of the trees are blackened or harvested, she finds the foliage incredibly impressive. And then she remembers that she will be getting used to white, blue and frostbite once more because her father is sending he back to the Southern Water Tribe.

"Katara, I want to talk to you," Sokka says gently, appearing from behind a line of tents, and Katara's heart jumps into her throat. It is not the kind of thing Sokka says; he usually just makes sarcastic comments in passing. "They've been discussing plans."

"The plans to jump the royal procession?" Katara sits straight up, suddenly very awake.

"The plan to infiltrate the Fire Nation."

"That's a bit of a leap from an attack on the princess," Katara says softly, eyebrows shooting up. Sometimes she does not know what gets into these people. She supposes their hope is good, but sometimes it can lead to overconfidence, which leads to bloodshed. "And, Sokka, you _do _know that we're getting sent back to the South Pole? If dad thinks it's dangerous..."

"I've been thinking it through. Come on; you're involved."

It sounds incredibly ominous.

Later that night, Katara sits around the fire. They live in these woods like savages. It disturbs her that she had to leave her frosty home and live without footprints. But stopping the Fire Nation means everything to her. She is waiting for them to tell her exactly what they mean by _infiltrate the Fire Nation_. She cannot let her dad do that, let him risk himself in that way. There has to be another choice.

"We'll make our first stop back at the South Pole. It's more strategic to approach the Fire Nation from there, as their ships have less of a patrol in that direction. We were no threat to them, none at all," Hakoda explains as Katara toys with the hem of her blue, singed skirt.

It got the burns in a fight she found herself in; and she struggled to get out of it, to her shame and dismay. Being part of the rebellion involves more than Katara imagined it would be. It involves the scent of charred flesh and the feeling of helplessness. They may come across one or two rebels per several miles, but the oceans of Fire Nation soldiers are infinite.

"But what about the princess?" Katara demands. "She'll be done with her tour by the time you're ready to get there."

"We sent our friends from the other encampment to make an attempt on her life."

"They'll die," Katara murmurs, as Sokka grits his teeth about being sent home instead of on this mission. He can't let dad die too. Not after mom.

Hakoda knows that, but he does not acknowledge his daughter's lament for their lives.

"They said that we had to be prepared to take it up another step. If we're aiming high now, we're aiming high now. The Fire Nation is on the brink of a civil war, according to all of our informants. We need to be there now, before the rebels are taken out. That was... what they asked for, actually. They said they would attack the princess if we gave them the support of our soldiers," Hakoda says and Katara knows they are obsessed with the Fire Nation collapsing on itself.

Half of what she hears about is how the Fire Nation is about to have a civil war. But Katara does not think it will come to pass. Or maybe, she sometimes allows herself to hope, they are violent enough that they need war to survive as a country, even if it is a war within their own borders.

And so Katara and the gang of rebels with her under their wing set out for the Southern Water Tribe. It is a three week journey and Katara spends the entire time practicing. Her waterbending is still weak and untrained, but she puts everything into it and manages to summon several waves.

She is so glad to be home when she sees it. The air is cold and bites at her dark skin, but she is content, very content. And then she feels her stomach twist when she thinks about the price of the contentedness; her dad is going into the Fire Nation and probably won't return.

When she sets foot on snow, her body is filled with powerful relief. She runs across it, reveling in the cold wind that flushes her cheeks. She hugs her Gran-Gran first and then looks around at the tribe. But she finds them lacking; people are missing.

"Did more people join the rebellion?" Katara asks her grandmother, studying her closely. But her expression reads something else entirely. Katara's stomach turns to ice.

"The Fire Nation raided us again," is all Gran-Gran says and Katara asks no more.

Katara tries to breathe and feels herself choking slightly. Maybe they could have saved their neighbors if they had not been in the Earth Kingdom blowing up supply lines and trying to help the ragged rebels of another nation. Katara bitterly slips into her house, drawing her knees to her chest and trying not to cry.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Azula's victory tour.

"This is gross," Mai complains, looking at the town they're stopping in. It does not even count as a town; it is more of a grungy stop off of the main road. A long path cuts through the entire Fire Nation, leading from Caldera to the westernmost city. And it is that road that they will follow for this tour that Mai completely agrees with Azula about being _pointless_.

"It's not awful," Ty Lee offers, pointedly helping Azula out of her palanquin. They glance at each other with darting eyes as their fingertips linger for too long. Mai makes mental note to get to the bottom of whatever it is that is making them _more _awkward.

"It's pretty awful," Azula declares and neither Mai or Ty Lee voice another opinion. "So, _bodyguards_, let's find our room."

Mai rolls her eyes but no one sees it, and Azula guides her friends to the inn. The town consists of a small market, a pointless shop for odds and ends, two decrepit houses and an inn. The inn seems to be in the best shape, clearly frequently used. Why people would want to go on lengthy trips through the boring Fire Nation, Mai has no idea.

Azula reaches the front door and is blocked by Admiral Zhao. She thought she told him to stay out of her way.

"I'll escort you. You're three young girls and shouldn't be walking into these places on your own. You never know what can happen outside of the city," he says slowly, examining the three of them. Mai swallows, Ty Lee squints at him and Azula sighs with pointed regality.

"Fine, fine, have it your way," Azula begrudgingly agrees, making a point to display that she is in control. It entirely goes over Zhao's head, who seems quite pleased with his position of escorting the Fire Lord's daughter through her propaganda tour.

They are led, all three displeased, by Zhao into the inn. It is trying too hard to be quaint and failing at it. Azula sticks her nose up but her friends do not seem to care. Zhao speaks to the woman at the desk, commanding, rude. He will not go far outside of military; he speaks like a conceited general, not a representative of the Fire Nation.

Azula finds her way to her room and drags her friends inside without another word to her _escort_. She never thought she could despise someone so much. It is the way he embodies the opposite of her firebending, perhaps. You can tell a lot about a bender when you have enough knowledge, and Zhao is the worst kind of firebender.

No control. None at all. But he wants control.

Just like father cannot handle power. Not at all. But he wants power.

Enough to destroy his family for it.

Azula would not do that. Probably. But that is what Ozai is so afraid of. That his daughter could grow up to be _just like him_.

"You look pretty spacey," Ty Lee remarks loudly, tearing Azula from her thoughts violently. Azula purses her lips and does not answer. Mai lies down on the creaky bed in the nicest room of the inn and exhales forcefully.

"This is the worst vacation ever," Mai complains, plucking up parts of the knit blankets and playing with them in her nimble fingers, honed by arrows and blades.

"I agree entirely," Azula replies, walking to the window and staring out. Nothingness for miles. Just the road and a single sign to the next city; her second appearance will be there, and it will kick off her journey to the west.

Mai glances at Ty Lee's discomfort as she studies Azula. Something has definitely happened between them behind Azula being so pissed about the whole circus thing. But Azula's abandonment issues are not shocking news. There is definitely something more lingering beneath the surface. And Mai just wants to dig it up and pry it apart.

"I suppose we should _sleep _or something. Not that we could in this disgusting place. The Earth Kingdom was _almost _nicer. Given, it looked much better on fire," Azula says with a careless shrug. Mai raises her eyebrows at the tossing around of genocide. But she supposes she should be used to it by now. Azula revels in her success during the comet and, as disgusting as it is, Mai supposes she has earned it.

"Azula, you should be nicer to Admiral Zhao," Ty Lee says and Mai and Azula are both stunned. They put down their respective activities and simply stare. "Just think about his life right now. He's a decorated Admiral who is currently babysitting you. That's his job. Not... Admiral stuff. He's essentially a nanny now."

Azula narrows her eyes; Mai laughs.

"You can't tell me what to do," Azula says, gritting her teeth. "You're on this trip to _serve _me not to─"

"Azula, please just take a joke," Mai sighs and Azula's eyes flash like a golden blade in the sun. "We know we're your slaves for eternity because we sat next to you at lunch during school, but you don't have to rub it in all the time."

Azula hesitates, briefly offended. But she laughs momentarily. For a flicker of a second Ty Lee's heart hurts; they will always be closer, won't they? Mai can say what she wants. Ty Lee is just going to be used and silenced.

She decides to duck out of the room and pointedly write her report to Fire Lord Ozai.

Being around Azula is getting too difficult, and the tour has barely begun.

* * *

Azula gives her first speech of the tour. It is bright, brilliant and bold. People watch with bright eyes, breathless. She is the closest thing the Fire Nation has to a celebrity and that is evident. The city has a stage meant for executions; they are stereotypically popular. But now it is decorated for the guest speaker, who extends the hand of good will from Fire Lord Ozai.

"Freedom dies if you do not use it," Azula opens with. Utter silence at her words. "That's something I personally have learned over the years. I think as a Nation we want to achieve freedom in solidarity. The military in the Earth Kingdom was broken into rigid ranks and squabbling leaders of towns who offered soldiers. They had no aims as a nation as a whole. They were not a Kingdom. They were running on archaic anarchy and brute violence."

Azula revels in the moment. The people feed off of her words. Mostly because she tells them what they want to hear. As she stands in a glorious ruby dress that is incredibly impractical if someone were to attempt to assassinate her right now, made-up like her father's lovely doll to plaster walls with the image of, she feels powerful.

Soon that power will be gone.

"We have tradition, pride, a status quo, yes. But the generals told the children they sent on the front lines with little training, only to die in vain, told them that the Fire Nation was some kind of totalitarian regime. That is propaganda and an absolute lie. We believe in freedom. Freedom from the bonds of the old ways. We incite industry. And a man can be born on a dirt farm and wind up in a mansion in Caldera mere years later. We incite freedom."

Pause. It is the perfect moment for a pause. She can almost _feel _the unbridled nationalism. It is cute from people who have no idea how corrupt and sick the nation is at its core. They only see the propaganda, not what Azula sees in war rooms.

"The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when all hope of a better life for the people has died. That hope died long ago in the Earth Kingdom. They were a diseased plant that would spread its illness if we allowed it to. And, so, to ensure that our people would remain free, so we would not let our hope die, we annihilated them. Like burning off the dead leaves on a plant to keep it from dying as a whole."

Metaphors, metaphors. She feels quite clever during her next pause. Someone could hear a pin drop across town. It is fairly fun.

"Great responsibility was put upon us as a nation by my great grandfather. And in the comet named for him, we took responsibility and stomped out a totalitarian regime that threatened our freedom. I watched Ba Sing Se crumble myself." Pause. "I burned off the diseased branches on the tree of the Fire Nation Empire."

Azula waits. Breathlessness from the crowd.

"If we falter in our leadership in this coming times as we build a new life from the ash of the comet, we may endanger the peace of our world and will surely destroy the welfare of our nation."

Azula stops again. She glances between the peasants who believe only what comes from her forked tongue.

"That is all I need you to know. My father and I stand with you, the people of our nation, regardless of your military rank or societal status. And we offer you freedom. Thank you."

The applause is thunderous. Azula has to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smirking. It went over even better than she intended it to, and she intended for it to be powerful.

Azula slips away from the stage, seized by her 'bodyguards' at each side. They make it to the courthouse by the executioner's stage. It is deserted for the purpose of briefly housing the princess.

"That was pretty amazing," Ty Lee says, batting her eyes blithely. Azula shrugs. "Oh, don't say you've done better. It was _really _amazing. Did you write that yourself?"

"Of course," Azula says earnestly. "I wouldn't just recite a script some old man handed me, would I?"

And then there is a loud crash. Azula's neck snaps up as she sees what has happened; a rock smashed through the windows of the courthouse. And suddenly, men in masks are in flight directly at Azula. Such a poor wardrobe choice, is all Azula can fathom as a series of knives collide with the neck of one of the men.

She tears from her dress as a jet of flame comes at her. With one finger she blocks it, dancing out of the expensive fabric. The firebender tries again but Ty Lee stops him; he falls to the ground, useless.

A rebellion Azula knew little about; why this never was spoken of to her by her father is baffling. With a few carefully timed blue explosions, two of the assailants fall dead and charred. Perhaps the rebellion is why Ozai is so paranoid of Azula. It would explain a good deal of him sending her on a propaganda tour and forcibly engaging her for marriage.

Mai slices out the throat of one, Ty Lee snaps the neck of a woman, and Azula finishes the last with a bolt of lightning. Azula walks to the man she just slew and lifts the mask from his face. Indistinguishable from anyone else in the homogenous Fire Nation. So they are her people. So they are.

"We're pretty good bodyguards, Mai!" Ty Lee exclaims as Azula is contemplating why she has never heard of rebellion before. "Oh, Azula, you... you aren't wearing..."

"I'm mostly dressed," Azula snarls and Ty Lee recoils with one finger still pointing at Azula's chest.

"You're mostly in your underwear," Mai corrects calmly and Azula rolls her eyes.

"I mostly just saved our lives." It is not necessarily true, but no one corrects her. Mai and Ty Lee had just as much to do with defeating the abrupt invaders, but arguing with the princess is ill advised.

Zhao and the nameless soldiers walk in belatedly. They were dealing with the crowds, handling the _fans_, while Azula was assaulted by insurgents.

"Would you care to explain to me why I was told nothing about insurgents in the _Fire Nation_?" Azula demands icily, giving Zhao a glare worthy of her father. She learned many of her coercive mannerisms from him, and they never fail him.

Zhao hesitates. "Would you care to explain to me why you're undressed where anyone could see you? You have standards to uphold."

"I was just almost murdered. Do you notice the bodies around you?" Azula gestures at corpses and a blood splattered floor. Zhao did notice it when he came in, but he was quickly distracted by the princess's appearance. "Tell me why I wasn't told about a _rebellion_."

"The rebellion isn't important. It's not strong enough to cause real damage," Zhao explains, rehearsed words forced into his mouth to be regurgitated. Azula purses her red lips. "But clearly they stepped out of line by attacking you. Apparently your bodyguards _are _competent. I'm surprised."

Mai snorts derisively and Zhao ignores her.

"I expect a report about them before my next appearance. This clearly isn't the last of whatever they have planned."

Their masks are of Fire Nation spirits. Why would people who loved their Nation attack _Azula_? She is the ideal of the Fire Nation. The idea of rebellion within her country and not just the Earth Kingdom concerns the princess, but she looks completely collected as Ty Lee finds her clothes and the bodies are carried out by soldiers.

Azula blushes uncomfortably as Ty Lee's hands brush against her bare abdomen when she hands Azula the clothes from the stylists of the royal procession. Ty Lee swallows, eyes wide momentarily as she realizes the flush on Azula's cheeks.

Sexual. Too sexual.

_"I invited you into my bed, not my heart. If you wanted some incredible _romance _perhaps you shouldn't have run off to the circus. You never would have seen me again if it weren't for the comet," Azula says bitterly, tying the strings on the back of her bra. "So don't act like we're dating."_

_Ty Lee recoils, pulling blankets over her naked form like a child afraid of monsters in the night._

"We should get moving before we're... interrupted again," Zhao says as soon as Azula is dressed. The watering down of Zhao's words comes from political training. It is almost as sickening as Azula's. He seems twisted but she is far more practiced at putting up a variety of facades.

Ty Lee moves to help Mai clean the blood off her body, although it is unnecessary. She seems to just think that it will prove she isn't just helping Azula. That they are a trio.

And after a good speech and an intriguing fight in the middle of a small city, the royal procession moves on without further hindrance.

* * *

It's dark, cold, and rainy tonight in the small city where Azula first spoke. These are exactly three states of weather Azula despises. The window is open and she does not have the will in her to get up and close it, so frigid rain drips onto the scratched wooden floors of the inn. She feels her head surging with pain.

"What's wrong?" a voice whispers beside her, high and overly warm. Much warmer than the cold night.

"I have a headache. Migraine. It isn't important," Azula replies with a pointed sigh. She cannot let on her discomfort, nor her anxiety about whatever it is her father has planned for her.

The silence is deafening until a hand touches hers. Light, smooth fingers brush across Azula's palm and she swallows. This cannot happen; this is not allowed to happen.

"I'm not being frisky. I'm fixing your headache," Ty Lee says softly, blushing when she notices Azula's expression. She sets the back of Azula's hand on her abdomen, her skin bare and heated from the thick down blankets.

And with a single motion, Ty Lee presses down in the inside of Azula's palm with her thumb. It hurts for a flicker of a second, but then all Azula can feel is relief of her headache. Bliss. Hm.

"That's impressive," Azula says, smirking faintly. "No more headache."

"Pressure points aren't just for, uh, soldier stuff," Ty Lee chirps before feeling awkward.

Her stomach is twisting and churning as she feels the discomfort between she and Azula. Their reunion when Ty Lee returned from the circus was... unpleasant. But pleasant at the same time. Indescribable feelings exist between them and Azula does a far better job at suppressing them than Ty Lee does.

"I'll keep that in mind," Azula replies quietly before turning on her side. Her breath is on Ty Lee's neck and it makes the acrobat break out in goosebumps. "Shut the window, will you?"

Ty Lee exhales a sigh of relief as if she thought Azula would say something more sinister. But Ty Lee nods and leaps out of the bed gracefully, walking to the window and sealing it shut. The glass and wood creak and Mai stirs in her deep slumber.

Azula closes her eyes and realizes sleep will never come. Ty Lee sits at the end of the bed and fidgets.

If she could mend the rift between she and Azula...

And somehow break the sexual tension...

She would be feeling significantly more optimistic about this propaganda tour.


	3. Chapter 3

Three weeks have passed in Azula's propaganda tour without event. This is the only good news that has crossed Ozai's desk since she left. The revolts are getting more and more violent, the discontent poisoning the air, and Ozai's paranoia only grows and grows. He suffers from insomnia, he forces guards to watch his son at all times (as if he trusted Zuko in the first place). Even Caldera hosts a few brave people in protest, but they are strung up faster than a fire starts on dry leaves.

Azula was meant to abet this. To cry out speeches that would give goosebumps to crowds and reinvigorate that nationalism that Sozin sparked. But the comet named from him was the undoing of his own country. The people are angry, not about violence, or about the Earth Kingdom, but the influx of refugees, the difference in wealth of those who profited from now dead colonies... it leaves poverty in which anger at your own nation can fester.

Meanwhile, Zuko is carrying out what Azula requested as Ozai is holding meetings of war about his own people fighting against him. Prince Zuko is doing everything in his power to find out who Azula is meant to be engaged to. It is to silence her, Zuko knows, to bury her in a wedding dress.

As Zuko interrogates anyone with power who crosses his path, all of them with no answer, Azula reaches the final city. Upon a grandstand, she readies for another speech.

"My father supports you, because he loves you. He understands you and he stands in solidarity with you," Azula finishes with fervor, though she does not believe the words she has said. She has seen the Fire Nation start to unravel. She has seen that her father is sinking further and further into paranoia of some kind of mutiny.

As Azula says her final word, the stage bursts into flames. She quenches it as she leaps from it, her dress burning. She stifles it, leaving singed shreds of fabric exposing her knees. It has broken out into a _riot_. And not of pleasure from her speech.

Mai seizes her, running with their arms interlinked. It might as well be a battle in the streets, soldiers against a populace who seem to be displeased with Azula's speech about her father being one of the people he governs. Ty Lee is directly behind them, looking for somewhere to hide.

They dive into the open door of a shop that seems out of the way of most of the fire. Azula gasps for breath, pressing her back against the wall. Mai shuts the door and seizes a chair, pushing it under the doorknob.

"Are you alive, princess?" Ty Lee asks, catching her breath at last.

"No, I'm a ghost," Azula replies sharply as she hesitantly peeks out of the window. The fight is escalating. "Nice bodyguard work."

They certainly have proven to fit their cover story well. The streets have erupted and Mai watches hesitantly. This cannot be a good sign.

Azula wanders through the shop as Mai and Ty Lee have their eyes glued to the fight going on outside. The citizens of the city are doing poorly against the well trained soldiers. So many corpses. It is almost like an Earth Kingdom town that has just been invaded, but the carnage is more sick.

Princess Azula had no idea that her nation was on the brink of civil war. It was unwise of father to send her out where she could discover that. She lived behind the walls of the palace, protected from what was out here. And as she digs through the shop, looking for clues, she thinks about how she could exploit what she has just learned about the populace.

She finds it shoved in a drawer. A flier written with information about the revolt and the plans for it. Not strategically burned, just hidden away. Azula's face is drawn on it. But there is no mention of killing her in the letter, only of making a statement that could not be ignored.

Then again, the death of the crown princess would be a statement that could not be ignored.

Zuko hears of the revolt and that Azula was safe and on her way home from the coast. There would be no more stops. She came too close to being killed. A stage erupted in fire beneath her and that was enough to scare Ozai into reeling her back in.

"You sent Azula away because you're afraid of her. You can't just kill her off like the other people who oppose you," Zuko says slowly, frustrated that he failed to learn anything new about Ozai's plans for his daughter today. He thought he had a lead but he did not. Pause. Ozai grits his teeth and pretends not to hear his son. "Like your father. Is killing your own child a little harder than that?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Ozai does not shout or reply in rage. He simply sips his wine and eats his dinner as if Zuko is not trying to pry him apart.

"You're going to marry her off to someone who can watch her. And make sure she doesn't wind up _too much _like her father," Zuko says and Ozai gives him a look that should have been enough to silence him. "Why are you so afraid of her? Shouldn't you be more worried about the angry peasants, and not Azula, who knows very well she'll get the throne handed to her if she just keeps out of your way?"

Ozai examines Zuko. "You ask too many questions for an exile."

"At least exiles aren't dead," Zuko says firmly and that... actually soothes Ozai slightly. Zuko values his life more than his stolen birthright, which means there is at least one person less who would've give their arm to see Fire Lord Ozai on a pyre.

They eat in silence after that comment. Zuko has no more to say and Ozai has no desire to listen to any more.

Azula lies in the hotel between her two friends. The window is open and the moon and starlight pours in unadulterated. She looks at the girl beside her, the light making patterns of chiaroscuro on her back.

She sleeps peacefully as Azula runs one long fingernail along her half bare back. Ty Lee does not move, or even stir in her sleep. Azula is met by visions of them sleeping together before Azula broke it off. It was going too far. They were in too deep. Azula knew the only way it could remain as just something physical and not emotional was to stop it altogether.

Azula kisses her neck and leaves an invisible mark. That makes Ty Lee move. Her eyes flutter open as Azula is pulling away from her. The princess contemplates pretending to be asleep, but she decides against it.

"Do you need something, princess?" Ty Lee asks sweetly, as if nothing had ever happened between them. And now Azula would be engaged as soon as they reached Caldera. Their affair would be a regrettable few months in the afterglow of victory from the comet.

_"Are we alone?" Azula murmurs, walking to Ty Lee sitting on the sofa. _

_"I think so," Ty Lee replies, blinking twice. She gazed at Azula with eyes that Azula knew. Lustful eyes that, instead of repulsing Azula, drew her closer and closer._

_"How fortunate." Azula sits down on the coffee table across from Ty Lee. "Maybe you're my reward for defeating the Earth Kingdom."_

_Ty Lee blushes. She likes the idea more than she should admit. Given, referring to her as a reward is not the most romantic pick up line, but what happens next, she allows with open arms._

_It is not perfect. But it is the start of something different._

_Ty Lee likes it._

_It intimidates Azula. She is not used to uncontrolled desires._

"I don't need anything. I just can't sleep," Azula murmurs, lying down and closing her eyes.

Ty Lee studies her for a little too long.

It is a shame that their relationship is over.

* * *

Katara paddles through the water with Sokka. She plays with the water as he stops to figure out what direction they should turn in.

"You do realize you're a rebel now and should act with _pride_. Stop playing with water," Sokka says, looking annoyed. Katara examines her orb of water and slowly lets it drop. "If dad comes home and they win - which they will - we're going to have to fight again, I know it. I'm not going to let something terrible happen to you because you aren't ready."

"You don't have to be so _patriarchal_," Katara snarls, bristling at his attempt to protect her. Everyone tries to protect her, and that only makes people wind up dead. Katara does not need to be protected, even if she is only sixteen. "I can take care of myself."

"You've really not proven that in the past," Sokka says, turning the wrong way. Katara sighs. He has no sense of direction at all, and now their fishing boat is taking a turn into hazardous waters. Waters they have not been in before.

Katara tries to help him keep control of the boat as they veer into a field of icebergs. It is bad enough that she has to wash his socks.

* * *

Azula is traveling with her entire entourage when the assassination is attempted. These people are not the angry people of the Fire Nation who want justice or war. They are not Fire Nation at all. Nor escaped slaves or prisoners. Azula's gut clenches as she examines their corpses.

"How many times have I almost died now, Admiral Zhao?" Azula asks, touching one of the bodies with the toe of her shoe.

"Four, princess," Zhao says begrudgingly. "We couldn't have anticipated it."

"Mhm. So how did these Earth Kingdom peasants wind up in my country? And why exactly did they just attempt to kill us? I mean, the rebels are one thing. At least they were born here or are legally in the Fire Nation. How exactly can our Nation's security explain this?" Azula examines Zhao with a dissatisfied expression.

"It's not impossible for the militia members from the Earth Kingdom to get here with all of the Fire Nation refugees. It won't happen again, I'm sure," Admiral Zhao says confidently and Azula purses her lips.

No. It won't happen again. As soon as Azula crosses through the doors of the palace, she is dissecting all that has come to pass.

This propaganda tour has been most enlightening.

The assassins had Water Tribe weapons. Strange. So Azula is threatened by two fronts: her enemies in the Earth Kingdom and her own subjects.

A nation on the brink.

Azula walks along the path that leads from the road as the procession deals with damages from the skirmish with rebels. It leads to a small, babbling brook and beautiful, mossy trees. She saw, beyond these beautiful outskirts of Caldera, land that was destroyed. Overly harvested, forests replaced with factories. Azula saw that in the Earth Kingdom, not in her own country.

It is not hard to figure out why people may oppose Ozai. They might as well be Earth Kingdom slaves for the way they are treated in their own country. Azula supposes it will not matter to her once she has the throne, or even once she is home and no longer has to look at the grotesque, ravaged towns and impoverished people.

"You look distracted," Ty Lee asks, approaching her. Azula tries not to look at her, and instead to study the water.

"I think I've learned more than I needed to know," Azula sighs, watching the water flow. It is crystalline clear, unlike the poisoned streams Azula had come across. "The nation is in trouble. Maybe we needed the war to keep people in check."

"Maybe?" Ty Lee rubs her neck. She is not exactly an expert in politics. That has always been the interest of Mai and Azula, not her.

"I don't know if this works for or against me. My father sent me away because he was afraid I would steal the country from me." Azula glances at Zhao, who is watching her from afar. She trusts him less and less every day, and she did not trust him much in the first place.

"But you don't want to, do you?" Ty Lee asks feebly, watching Azula walk to her. Azula lingers in front of Ty Lee, very close. She touches her arm and Ty Lee tries to fight against the wave of goosebumps.

Azula leans in close, her lips nearly against Ty Lee's neck.

"I think I want to take the country," she whispers and Ty Lee swallows. This, she may leave out of her report to Fire Lord Ozai. "Perhaps my father's influence over the people has run dry."

Azula walks past Ty Lee, her eyes flickering up to face Admiral Zhao. He does not suspect.

She walks back towards the royal procession as Ty Lee swallows and tries to forget what she was just told.

* * *

Katara and Sokka are shipwrecked. Sokka looks at the boat floating away from them and groans loudly.

"See what your arguing did?" Sokka snaps and Katara clears her throat.

"_My _arguing? You're the one who thinks you're so tough just because you joined the rebellion. It doesn't make you any better than anyone else. Our tribe is dying out because we abandoned them and here you are, going on about how we're going to infiltrate the Fire Nation. The rebellion is a waste of time." Katara strikes a vicious blow out in the middle of nowhere. One iceberg cracks and Sokka has to steady himself for the wave. Katara points to the next one. "I am just about _done _with your delusions of grandeur."

When this iceberg cracks, it does not simply crumble. No... it does something else entirely; it glows bright, vibrant blue, in a shade that Katara has never laid eyes on before.

She runs forward, Sokka's eyes bulging as he sees her running away. And into Katara's arms, there is a boy. A boy with tattoos and his eyes closed.

And then his eyes open.

* * *

By the time Azula reaches Caldera, something is stirring towards the east. She arrives to the love of the people and realizes she was greeted the same way even in places that were bubbles of tension about to pop violently. Nothing looks the same to her golden eyes after what she saw during her propaganda tour.

She reaches the palace without being swarmed too much but the loving people. Zuko is waiting for her, not father or anyone else. Mai looks at him and then averts her eyes. The tension between them is almost as thick as the tension between the citizens of the Fire Nation and their Fire Lord.

Azula supposes her tension with Ty Lee is not any better, but she likes to think of herself as a few notches above Zuko and Mai.

"I did what you asked," Zuko says and Azula smirks faintly. It is true. The information finally made its way into Zuko's hands.

And Azula is ready to connive her way out of the prison father has made for her.


	4. Chapter 4

Katara never expected to see an Air Temple. She saw great sights in the Earth Kingdom, most notably buildings that don't melt. The carnage in the Earth Kingdom was disgusting and Katara imagined the Air Temples would be equally scorched and muddied with death. Yet, time has served the place well. The marks of the Fire Nation have almost entirely faded.

Sokka is complaining, as usual. And Aang is excited, which Katara loves. What she saw two days ago terrified her, but she has grown fairly sweet on Aang.

His compassion and ability to see the best in people are personality traits that no longer exist in a world after Sozin's Comet. The moment that beautiful light streaked across the sky, hope died and the ground was permanently scorched.

"So, Aang," Sokka says as they walk up _endless _stairs, "what was that whole outburst?"

_Katara watches as two ships are sheared in half by the power of water._

_ "The strength of water can sink a man," is an old saying in the Water Tribe. It never made sense to Katara until she saw Aang's eyes and tattoos glow blue and a tsunami rise at his command._

_ Hakoda, Bato and the other rebels look on in shock as they battle on their own boarded vessel. Katara ceases struggling against the soldiers fighting her. And they stop trying to drag her towards their own ship. _

_ The ships were attracted and Hakoda decided to make the best of it by using this opportunity to steal one for the infiltration. But while it was too much, right now, Aang proves to be the most vital weapon the rebels could ever have._

_ He sinks into the water and rises again with the help of his Sky Bison._

"I don't know," Aang says calmly, shrugging. Then he frowns for a flicker of a second. Katara has only seen that expression on Aang's face when she showed him the Fire Nation ship and explained what happened during the comet.

Katara feels a twisting sensation in her gut as they come closer to the Southern Air Temple. Aang has not fully accepted that his people died one hundred years ago. Just like seventy years ago, Katara's people were killed and stolen. She wishes she could express that to him, wishes she could express what she saw in the Earth Kingdom. Bodies. Charred bodies in open graves.

_"I never wanted to be the Avatar," Aang says as he starts to walk away. "I can't help you."_

_ He cannot help after he failed everyone. The world's balance is forever tipped and he knows it is his fault. Katara follows him even though he plans to leave before the rebels ask him to help them. Why would Aang be able to do it? He does not know the first thing about being the Avatar, and he does not know any elements except for airbending._

_ "Let's run together, then. Let's go to the North Pole. I've heard it wasn't defeated during the comet. But our communication was broken off even when we were in the Earth Kingdom." The dream of the North Pole is a foolish legend people cling onto because they fear their culture will die out forever. "Please. You don't have to infiltrate the Fire Nation like Sokka keeps going on about. Let's run together."_

_ She hesitates. Aang stops walking, but he does not turn to face her._

_ "Please take me with you. I can't be here anymore." Katara's voice never sounded broken to Aang before, but right now it does._

_ "Okay," Aang says earnestly. She is the only person here who has treated him as a person and not a valuable resource._

They reach the upper levels of the Air Temple and Katara and Sokka try to distract Aang futilely.

But it cannot be a secret forever.

* * *

In the Fire Nation, Azula is grateful that her brother did as she asked despite their messy history. The loathing between them fades upon occasion as they are older, more mature, and it is set in stone that Azula will rule the nation. Rivalry dies hard, however. But for now, they are best friends, because Zuko has information that Azula desperately needs.

"You found out about my engagement?" Azula asks slowly and smoothly, shutting herself in her brother's room.

"You're going to be angry," Zuko replies, eyeing Azula closely as if she will bite him. "Father plans it to silence you."

"I'm aware. But one hand may be given in marriage, but the other is prepared to strike him down with a bolt of lightning," Azula says and Zuko gulps. He never imagined Azula talking like that. She is the opposite of treasonous, but here she is openly talking about killing their own father.

But Azula couldn't hurt him. She knows it; Zuko knows it. But in her anger, she believes she is capable of killing anything that breathes.

"There's a reason father sent Admiral Zhao as your... escort?"

"Babysitter," Azula corrects, before Zuko's words sink in. Her eyes flash, because she does not want to hear what comes next.

"I think you can figure out where I'm going with this." Zuko does not want to break it to her in clear terms. She looks like an angry dragon, except slightly more terrifying.

"It's okay," Azula says, her voice slightly constricted by emotion. "It's okay. Because I'm going to find my way out of this. If there's anything I'm good at, it's finding a loophole. It's conniving. It's okay. It's going to be okay."

She seems incapable of breathing and Zuko wonders if he should do something to help her. He simply looks at her with his lips slightly parted as she coughs twice and straightens her back. Her cheeks are flushed, something Zuko has never seen on Azula. She controls herself and her emotions to the point where Zuko thinks she might just combust someday.

Azula walks into the hall and Zuko hesitantly follows her. There is commotion in the palace, and Azula wonders if it is for her or for something else.

"Oh wonderful, perhaps the Fire Sages are here to marry me before I can think of something," Azula sighs as she sees the men walk into the palace. There is urgency about them beyond the matter of a royal wedding.

Azula narrows her eyes and waits a few heartbeats before following them. Zuko scampers after her.

They reach the throne room, where Azula and Zuko stand outside for a moment. A crash, a burn, the scent of smoke. Azula's eyes flash and Zuko flinches at the sound.

"What do you mean the Avatar has returned?" growls Ozai loud enough for his children to hear him through the door.

Zuko swallows, his throat suddenly dry. Azula can only blink several times too fast. The Avatar has returned, the Fire Nation is about to have a civil war, and she is engaged to a man three times her age. She catches herself as she is about to stumble and possibly faint.

"You don't look so good," Zuko says and Azula clears her throat.

"I'm fine. I don't need your concern," Azula says coldly before fleeing the scene slowly and cautiously, trying to look cool and calm but not pulling it off.

Zuko also disappears, for fear of his father walking out of the throne room and finding him eavesdropping.

He is on thin enough ice already.

* * *

"I'm getting married. This is disgusting. I..." Azula is halfway through a tirade that is mostly just repetitive and reworded complaints about sex, loathing and patriarchy.

Ty Lee listens carefully, trying not to get her own emotions tangled in it. They so easily could. Far too easily, they could. Azula getting married writes off any chance of it developing. It being the relationship that has been blossoming slowly and painfully for some time.

_"Just because I invited you into my bed doesn't mean I invited you into my heart."_

"You're going to find a way out of it. You're _you_. You're perfect and smart and pretty," Ty Lee offers, beaming in defense. Azula sits down on her bed, picking at her fingernails ferociously.

"I know. There has to be a way. There is _always _a way," Azula sighs, taking two deep, timed breaths. She has better control than this, but she feels like she is spiraling into dark waters that want to suffocate her.

"I know you'll get out of it," Ty Lee murmurs.

They sit in silence for a moment before Azula moves forward like a striking wildcat. Ty Lee flinches before Azula's lips are against hers. _No, no, no... this can only lead to trouble._

Azula's hands slip into Ty Lee's shirt and her brain stops protesting. Or maybe her body tells her brain to stop protesting. It is frantic and confused, a war of tongues that winds up on the floor of the princess's bedroom.

And after it is over, Azula is going to make some excuse, some snide comment. But Ty Lee will see her eyes and bite her lip to avoid telling Azula that she is the best liar there is, but even she cannot hide something as strong as this.

But there it is. Fucking on her floor. As she is about to be married.

Azula sees her father in the morning. She has concealed what she has done, as she has with every midnight meeting with Ty Lee. He would never suspect it. And Azula wonders if she can weaponize her relationship with the acrobat to get out of her engagement to Zhao.

But her thoughts are muddy.

"I have a significant amount of news," father says and Azula nods, slowly bowing.

Someday he will bow to her. She will force him to. But for now, serving him is in her best interest. Sacrifices must be made if she wants the throne. Some sacrifices that no human should go through. But she does it.

"Yes, father?" Azula asks, realizing he is waiting to be prompted.

"The Avatar has returned. And is presumably with the rebellion. And I have news of your engagement."

Azula pretends to be surprised.

* * *

Azula thinks quickly as she walks to the rose hued balcony with golden fixtures. Now it will be announced, now it will be announced that she is being forced to marry. She will tell the people how much her father loves him, and that she is a servant of the people.

But Azula has the potential to be more than a tyrant like her father and grandfathers. She has the capability to be the best leader the world has ever seen. And now she is being brushed aside and tucked away because that threatens the man who made her this.

Fire Lord Ozai made her who she is.

He brought this on himself. Just like he said every time she would be brutally punished for trivial reasons.

_"You brought this on yourself."_

And Azula gazes at her two friends and supposed bodyguards. Mai already looks bored before anyone has been speaking. Ty Lee is watching Azula with a hollow, broken sadness Azula did not imagine she could experience. Ty Lee is overly optimistic and sickeningly happy and blissfully ignorant.

But now reality sets in. Azula turns away from her and turns to the public.

Now she makes her choice. Her father nods at her and her lip twists into a brief snarl that disappears when she realizes she has been doing it. The final speech is her greatest yet. It finishes in the most populated city, surrounded by the most important people. The people that threaten her father most.

Azula has no script. She jotted a few notes to herself when she was not obsessively trying to figure out how to break off her engagement before it begins.

"We observe today not a victory of battle but a celebration of freedom. Renewal, as well as change in our Nation. I have sworn before you upon the exile of my brother the same solemn oath my forefathers mad to you. I do not intend to squander it in my future reign."

Ozai did not anticipate that. Azula smiles faintly as she glimpses at him. It is intentionally meant to unnerve him.

"The world is very different now from the age of Fire Lord Sozin. We hold in our mortal hands the ability to abolish entire races of our enemies. We dare not forget today that we are heirs of that first strike."

And the Avatar is back. Sozin did not achieve as much as he was accredited with.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well of ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any ally and oppose any foe to assure the survival of liberty. Our country is on the brink of civil war."

Ozai's eyes flash.

"It is the worst move we could possibly make as a Nation. Ripping out each other's throats is a waste of resources that could be better used to spread our values and our people throughout the world. We need to build up from the ashes of our enemies and not reduce each other to ashes. In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of the Fire Nation."

Azula pauses and looks around. It worked better than she imagined it would.

_Fellow citizens_, not _loyal subjects_. Little words. Little words can win her the support of every person on this street. If she takes the country, there will be no qualms. No people who need to disappear like when her father usurped Fire Lord Azulon.

It will be clean and controlled, like a bolt of lightning.

"And so, my fellow citizens, ask not what the Fire Nation can do for you; ask what you can do for the Fire Nation."

Azula steps back. She has not thought of what to do next. At the end of her words she will have to accept an engagement and pretend to be happy. To pretend her dream is to walk down an aisle and not walk down the path to absolute power.

It hits her as she is stepping backwards and Admiral Zhao is stepping forward. In plain sight of the people who were brought to teas by adoration of the pretty princess with prettier words, she seizes Ty Lee by the wrist, startling her.

In the light of the sun, she presses her lips against the acrobat's. Zhao freezes in place. Everyone stops, as if time halted.

Azula takes the extremely confused acrobat by the hand and walks past Zhao.

"I am also pleased to announce my engagement, as promised."

* * *

As soon as Azula and Ty Lee are out of the sight of the people fawning over them as a couple, they are ripped apart. Ty Lee is half dragged away by guards she snaps at for being rough with her. Azula has her wrist seized by her father and finds herself shut in the library with him.

It smells of dust and victory. Azula's heart beats quickly as she feels brilliant.

"So, you decided to sabotage your engagement," is all father says, in a low tone that would have terrified a younger Azula. Slowly, Azula nods. "Do you love her?"

Azula is silent. She doesn't. It was simply to incite people. Simply to defeat any chances of being married off because the public is enamored with her declaration of love and long, passionate kiss on the balcony.

"No," Azula replies honestly. It is not important enough to lie to her father over.

"Well, you better act like it. If you value your right to the throne at all, you better be ready to live happily ever after with this circus whore." He pauses. "Let's give the people what they want."

"I fully intend to."

They lock eyes for a moment, but do not fight.

It is uncertain who would win at this point.

* * *

**Okay, exposition phase is over. We're now starting the plot, of the engagement and the Avatar and such. It's mostly Azula and Ty Lee's point of views now, except the occasional glimpse into Aang, but not as much as there has been so far.**


	5. Chapter 5

Sokka is not pleased. As he sits upon Appa, made very uncomfortable by how far off the ground and above certain death he is, he has listened to the plan of the Avatar for their trip to the North Pole. As a strategist in the rebellion, Sokka is not impressed. Katara, however, is clearly enamored with the kid, which makes Sokka just want to shake some sense into his sister.

"So, you want to ride on a giant fish while the Fire Nation is still ruling the world?" Sokka demands, raising an eyebrow. Katara chews on her lip, not wanting to admit that she agrees with him. Aang shrugs, a look of hope in his eyes that Katara cannot help but enjoy. She cannot remember the last time she saw someone's eyes like that.

"Well... yes..." Aang replies feebly, turning his palms up. His cheeks are flushed pink and Katara studies both he and Sokka closely.

"It's on the way to the North Pole, right?" Katara offers hopefully and Sokka groans.

"_Everything _is on the way to the North Pole, Katara," but no one listens to him as Aang nods feverishly.

And, despite Sokka's protest, the group lands on a cold beach. The sand is rocky and rugged, the water in the bay frigid. Katara shivers, stroking Appa's fur as she examines the sparkling sea. Something moves beneath the water and Aang perks up.

Giant Koi fish. _Very giant _Koi fish, Sokka realizes with a raised eyebrow.

But as Katara watches, laughing at the absurdity, Sokka hears something in the bushes.

"We're distracted. _You're _distracted," Sokka snaps at Katara as he draws his boomerang. "The Avatar may be what we need to win the war, but I'm not a huge fan of Aang."

Katara frowns at him in response.

She thinks that Aang is something bright in a dark, scorched world.

But then she hears the cracking of twigs.

* * *

Ty Lee does not know what to think as she is being dragged by her wrists. Azula kissing her publicly felt _amazing_, but it is definitely not good that she did it instead of letting her engagement to Zhao be announced. Marrying Azula sounds _fantastic_, but somehow Ty Lee feels that this will involve more pain than pleasure.

"Were you aware of this?" is directed at her by a cold male voice. Her lips pop open in surprise as she is at a lack for words.

"No?" Ty Lee offers. She is led to a dim room, surrounded by soldiers and fairly certain she is going to be killed. When Azula said she was going to take the country... Ty Lee can only hope she was not _serious_. If the acrobat is about to implicated in some kind of attempted coup... well...

"How did your relationship with the princess begin?" demands a female voice. She has just entered and Ty Lee was too distracted by the silvery glint of weapons to notice.

"You mean romantically?" Ty Lee raises an eyebrow, her heart palpitating.

The woman looks tough yet sophisticated, with thick dark hair and angled features. The scrutiny in her amber eyes plunges into Ty Lee and tries to vivisect her. Ty Lee can only feel utter terror at the examination of a relationship that does not even exist.

Azula has trapped Ty Lee in lies many times before. But never in a one that could cause the most damage as this one.

Beads of sweat develop on Ty Lee's peachy skin as she stares at her interrogator and hopes for an answer. The woman does not soften at all as she witnesses the fear of the teenage girl in front of her; in fact, it seems to make her expression even more stoic.

"Yes, romantically. We're all aware you two were childhood friends," the woman finally says and Ty Lee wonders if she took her time or Ty Lee is imagining things as far slower due to her anxiety.

"Well, when I got back to the Fire Nation before the comet we reunited and it was nice. We, uh, wound up kinda, uh, _sparking_ something." Ty Lee hopes Azula has not told them anything different than what she is explaining. "When she came back from burning down Ba Sing Se, we, uh, _did things_."

"You two slept together?" the woman demands with a flash of her eyes that make Ty Lee gulp.

"Yes. More than once." Hesitation. Ty Lee needs to be like Azula now; she needs to be strong and make up eloquent words to cover her tracks. But it never was a strong suit. "We fell in love. I'm in love with her and she is in love with me. I'm sure the engagement was irrational, but I can't imagine living without her, and I'm sure she would say the same about me."

The woman pauses, her eyes narrowed. Ty Lee tries to keep her breathing calm as she closes her eyes and waits for the verdict.

"Teenagers," the woman sighs and Ty Lee's eyes flutter open. "Teenagers in love. It's disgusting."

Ty Lee breathes a small sigh of relief. She is sure Azula would prefer to be seen as an irrational teenager in love instead of a girl planning on overpowering her father and stealing the Fire Nation. Ty Lee slumps in her chair, glad she managed to divert the blame.

"Hormones, you know?" Ty Lee chirps and the woman slowly shakes her head.

The same hormones that still have Ty Lee tenderly aching for another kiss like the one Azula gave her. It was a show; it was for the public. But it was more passionate than any other kiss Ty Lee has ever experienced.

_Hormones_. Ugh.

* * *

Zhao punches the wall with a single blazing fist. Chan cringes at the motion, chewing on his lip. He would genuinely prefer not be in the same room as a man who never could control his violent outbursts after his perfectly orchestrated play for power was stolen from him.

"It's exactly like her, isn't it?" Zhao demands and Chan can only blink. "I would never speak ill of the princess, but she likes to have her way at the cost of anyone else."

Chan does not point out that Zhao is speaking ill of the princess; he simply nods. Nor does Chan point out that Zhao is exactly that kind of person as well, but with less grace about it than Azula. The attraction, albeit one sided, is not surprising at all.

"Maybe there's a way out of it," Chan offers and Zhao laughs mirthlessly.

"The people love them. They know nothing about this girl, and they love that she's with Azula. No one would be foolish enough to change the engagement at this point. Not with the country about to break out into a civil war," Zhao says coldly and Chan does not know what else to say.

"I think it was the look in her eyes," Chan offers about Ty Lee but Zhao is no longer listening.

It was well arranged. It was a plan that Zhao was proud to be a part of, despite it having nothing to do with the military. In fact, it even had little to do with his own fantasies about Azula. Those unfulfilled fantasies that he was dumb enough to think would be fulfilled if Azula knew of them.

She is smart. Too smart for her own good. It is why Fire Lord Ozai fears her and he is _right _to fear her. If Zhao had anything to say about Azula, he would inform the Fire Lord that she is more trouble than she is worth.

But Zhao is smart enough to keep his mouth shut. That is, until Azula slips up.

And inevitably, she will.

That night he dreams of her. It is an erotic nightmare.

And he plans, entirely, to unhinge this plan she has built. It may seem dumb at first, but Fire Lord Ozai will reward it once he sees past his little girl and realize he is dealing with what could be his worst enemy.

One cold shower later, he is already plotting.

Two can play at this game.

* * *

Azula sits across from her father at dinner. He has evaded her for the past two days and Azula is grateful. She is not one to _want _to be the subject of his wrath. Nor has she seen what has become of either Ty Lee or Zhao. Mai has also been distinctly missing, and Azula's only human interaction has been with servants.

But now father wants to eat with her, and Azula can only play with her food and contemplate what words will serve her best.

"I think you can safely say that I didn't go down exactly as you thought I would," Azula says sweetly, examining her father closely. He still is not over his daughter decimating his plans for her. "My propaganda tour was met by several attempts on my life. Maybe I'm _not _the Fire Nation sweetheart with the golden touch."

"Well, the people love you enough to ensure that you're going to be marrying someone entirely worthless to me. The news of your engagement has spread like wildfire," Ozai replies, his voice calm but a certain magma beneath his words.

"Do you regret sending me on that tour?" Azula asks kindly again, raising an eyebrow.

"Not as much as you're going to regret that stunt at the speech," father replies and Azula swallows her next sentence. It suddenly becomes very real to her that she crossed the Fire Lord, not just angered her overbearing father.

She examines her food closely, realizing she will need to be much more careful. Her mind is not made up yet if she wants to seize the country; she loves her father and would not want to harm him. The temptations she faced while she was on her tour, embittered, now seem less tempting.

In no way does she regret sabotaging her engagement to Admiral Zhao. But she also realizes she will need to be cautious if she is going to make any progress towards getting the throne. Does she want to sit and wait and stay out of the way for the next thirty years? Perhaps not. Does she want to meet a fate worse than Zuko? Definitely not.

"It wasn't meant as rebellion. I just couldn't marry him, father," Azula says in her best impression of his sweet, young daughter. The one he pretends still exists after all of the people she has killed and all of the things she has seen and done by the age of sixteen.

Ozai studies her closely and falls for it. Azula is glad she has his trust. If Zuko were to try this, he would be dead.

"I'm playing it off as teenage love. You don't love her, no. But you don't love him either. Do you find her preferable?" Ozai asks and Azula hopes he is unaware that he is walking right into her hands.

"I'd rather marry her. I couldn't just let myself be handed away to some man thirty years older than me. I believe that once you give me the throne I will be a competent enough leader to not have to worry about marriage."

"Marriage for love is a luxury only the poor can afford," Ozai says and Azula takes a deep breath, carefully navigating her next words.

"Don't you want better for me than you?" Azula asks and by invoking her mother, she wins by default.

"I do," Ozai says before sipping wine and allowing Azula to get away with it.

She suppresses a smile and slices her meat.

Blood trickles onto the golden plate.

* * *

"The public wants us to be desperately in love," Azula murmurs, brushing Ty Lee's bangs from her face. The acrobat tries not to savor the gentle touch, but she does nonetheless. "I think we should give the people what they want."

Ty Lee does not know if she should be hopeful or terrified. She toys with the hem of her skirt and realizes how screwed she is for wanting to screw the Fire Nation Princess. But the idea of marrying Azula is thrilling, and... even if Azula is just pretending, Ty Lee certainly is not.

They are sitting in Azula's room, the sun slowly setting and staining the sky with the shades of the Fire Nation. Ty Lee has lived and breathed the propaganda, and only now is she a part of it, as she realizes that keeping up appearances is more important than truly being a strong nation.

The world was theirs the moment Sozin killed the Air Nomads. Now it is simply a matter of holding on and hoping no one bats the globe out of Fire Lord Ozai's hands.

"Tomorrow morning we have some kind of meeting with a political trainer. Expect it to be boring," Azula says, rising from the vanity where she was undoing her hair and wiping off her make-up and slipping into the sheets of her bed. Ty Lee still sits awkwardly beside the windowsill, wondering if she should join Azula or not.

Ty Lee hesitates as the sun dips lower and the sky slowly becomes indigo. And with a deep breath, she slides into bed beside Azula. She imagines they will melt into each other and be riddled with regret in the morning once Azula realizes the truth of what she has done.

And they do. Azula's lips lock with hers and Ty Lee clings to her.

In the morning, Ty Lee still clings. Azula is blissfully sleeping and Ty Lee studies her slowly, and how the sunlight reflects on her skin. Azula's eyes open at a pounding on the door that makes Ty Lee jump in fright.

"Relax. It's Seiri," Azula says with a small sigh and roll of her golden eyes. Ty Lee touches her heart and fumbles for her clothes, not wanting to be caught naked in the princess's bed. That never seemed like a good idea.

"Who's Seiri?" Ty Lee inquires as Azula opens the door.

"I'm aware my day is meticulously scheduled and you can tell me about it once I'm dressed," Azula says before shutting the door instantly. Ty Lee caught a small glimpse of the woman outside, and she is someone Ty Lee had seen around Azula before but never knew much about.

Azula turns to Ty Lee as she throws open her wardrobe and searches for clothes. "Seiri is my life manager of the past two years. I go through them quite quickly but I happen to like her more than most of them."

Ty Lee knows that Azula goes through servants quickly. Her nannies never lasted long, but most of that was about her loathing for being mothered or cared for. She walks through the world as if she is constantly on fire, and anyone not strong enough to withstand her blaze burns to ashes.

And Ty Lee is sweating from the destructive heat. How long will it be before she combusts?

"Okay," Ty Lee offers, slipping out of bed and pulling on her clothes. The pink fabric is wrinkled and used; she wishes she had brought extra clothes, but she had no idea she would be sleeping over.

"You're surprisingly okay with all of this," Azula remarks as she starts to do her make-up.

"I figure I have no choice. I might as well enjoy myself." Ty Lee grins.

"Your optimism disgusts me." And at that bitter insult, Azula kisses Ty Lee passionately, leaving the acrobat incredibly confused.

Constant confusion. She has no idea what to expect from Azula. Not that she did _before _they were sexually involved, but it grew far more confusing as time passed.

Ty Lee simply readies herself for the day with Azula and keeps her fear to herself.

* * *

"The engagement party is tomorrow," Seiri explains, holding a scroll of neat handwriting listing different things she has to go over.

Azula is used to it by now. Her father thrives on controlling every aspect of her life, and everything is scheduled and planned. Ty Lee is less used to this; she spent the past two years in a circus where nothing was planned but rehearsals and she slept in a tent.

"That's fast," Ty Lee remarks before feeling foolish.

"It was planned for me and Zhao. I'm sure it's been in the works for at least a year," Azula says coldly and Seiri squirms uncomfortably. Her fear of Azula is evident, but her fear of Ozai much stronger.

"I'd like to go over some etiquette training with you two."

* * *

Azula and Mai sit on the sidelines as Lin puts Ty Lee into a variety of dresses. They did not have an elaborate one planned, like they did for Azula. No one was expected a second dress for the happy couple. Mai sips from a teacup of cold tea and Azula gazes at the scene with detailed plans behind her golden eyes.

"There is no way someone as twisted as you could ever deserve that girl," Mai remarks to Azula and the princess rolls her eyes. "What? She's going along with this really nicely."

"She just wants to be the Fire Nation's sweetheart. Everybody paying attention to her..."

"She's in love with you and you know it. That's why you planted a kiss on her and not me. You've involved me in most of your schemes throughout our lives. Last time I checked I was your go to girl for treason. But you know she's in love with you and loyal and everybody will believe her because it's true coming from her," Mai explains and Azula sighs.

"You should leave it alone," Azula replies in a sugary, silken tone.

"I'm not going to do anything about it. I really don't care, to be honest. But I am going to say that you don't deserve her."

Azula does not know why she allows Mai to talk at all. She feels herself bristle at the accusation, although she knows deep down that Mai has a point.

"I deserve Zhao? Or perhaps _you_?"

"I'm not your matchmaker. You just don't deserve her."

Azula knows she is right. But she will never admit it.

* * *

**AN: **Well, I have 6 final projects/essays due next week, and they've been really occupying me, if that's a valid excuse for having so little of this done/posted. But I have this fic all planned out and lots of scenes and bits written, and once I hit break and spring semester I'm going to have oodles of free time to complete it. Just right now is a rocky spot because I decided to be dumb and take so many classes I honestly need a time turner. During my junior year. Thanks for your patience, and I'm really thrilled with the response to this, it makes me really, really happy.


	6. Chapter 6

Katara tries to summon water but struggles as she hears the approaching footsteps. Sokka draws his boomerang, the sharp metal glittering in the sunlight around the bay. Even Aang notices something is wrong, and he dives into the sea, swimming towards them with a little help from airbending.

They stand on the beach, hearts racing as they find themselves surrounded by warriors. And before any of them can fight, they are taken down simultaneously and tied up. Katara tries to scream before she is gagged, and they are dragged into a small town.

It is rebuilt from Fire Nation attacks, that much is evident. And it has the gloom of an Earth Kingdom town that has been abused by the ruling nation. This town has clearly been through a lot, just like every town Katara has seen after the comet.

"Give me one reason why you aren't Fire Nation," a female voice demands and Katara finally gets a good look at her captors. They dragged them facing the ground, so only parts of the town were visible. It is a group of girls in strange outfits, fighters.

"You're the Kyoshi Warriors," Sokka declares and the girl blinks at him in response.

"We know who _we _are. We asked who _you _are," she says sharply, her dark eyes narrowing on Sokka. He suddenly looks very uncomfortable, breathing in deeply.

"I know you're Kyoshi Warriors because you helped with the rebellion. My father is Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe," Sokka says and there is no recognition in her eyes. _Fuck_.

"I know him," protests another girl, this one with thick raven hair. The girl who seems to be the leader glances at her. "He sent us a lot of intelligence from the Earth Kingdom."

"Kyoshi..." Aang is clearly elsewhere as Katara is trying to figure out a way out of this situation and the bonds on her wrist. "I _know _Kyoshi."

"You know Kyoshi?" snorts the leader of the warriors. She looks almost amused.

"Yeah," Aang says, grinning. Katara is completely confused. "Because I'm the Avatar."

It is the first time Katara has heard Aang proudly declare what he is. He tends to be secretive about it, and not talk much. When she followed him as he was about to make his escape, he said he never wanted to be the Avatar. But as he looks at the decrepit, scorched statue of Kyoshi, he seems slightly happy.

Perhaps it is familiar to him.

"You're the Avatar? The Avatar hasn't been heard from in over a hundred years," the leader says, crossing her arms. She no longer looks entertained and Katara feels her heart rate speed up.

"Do some airbending," Sokka groans at Aang and Aang nods.

He escapes his bonds with a aerial flip, conjures a few waves of air, reveling in how impressed everyone is. It feels good to be admired, he has to admit.

"You were a lot of help during the comet," the leader girl says sarcastically and Aang stops making an air scooter. It is suddenly easier to breathe for everyone around, but Katara feels abruptly constricted. "Thanks for coming."

Aang frowns.

Everybody feels the same way that he does.

_Failure_.

That night, Aang dreams of Avatar Kyoshi. It is more than just a dream. It feels like a vision.

"These people are hurt by your absence, I know. But you need to go see Roku. During the winter solstice, go to the Fire Nation to see the sages there. There is still a way to win the war," Kyoshi says calmly as Aang is still trying to come to terms with what is happening to him, and why the dream has such an eerie blue glow.

When he wakes up, he has been sleepwalking. He rubs his sore head and looks at Katara and Sokka. They are fast asleep in the beds given to them by Suki and her friends. It took a dinner and some getting to know everyone, but they were friends of Hakoda and always willing to help allies against the Fire Nation.

Aang could only sigh, glance out of the window, and wonder how he was supposed to get to the Fire Nation to meet with Avatar Roku.

* * *

"Everybody who's anybody is here, and they all want to meet you," Seiri says to Ty Lee, who is a combination of excited and terrified. That seems to be her constant state of emotion since Azula decide to spring an engagement on her.

"So this is the engagement party?" Ty Lee asks feebly, adjusting her dress. It is lovely, but not quite her shade. The dark red reminds her of blood and the gilded thread in the shape of a rising sun is too _old _for her style. But she will wear what they tell her to wear and say what they tell her to say, because she gets more terrified every day.

They stand outside of the gates to a gigantic mansion of one of the Fire Lord's most trusted advisors. For some reason, it is not going on in the palace, likely because of the sensitive information held within the walls of the Fire Lord's home. And Ty Lee looks at the gorgeous fire fountains and the beautiful people surrounding her, dressed in outlandish clothes. It is lovely, truly lovely, and she is ecstatic to be involved in a royal wedding.

But it also kills her. She knows Azula is most likely using her to avoid the marriage to Zhao. She _knows _it, and it does hurt. But Azula kisses Ty Lee on the cheek and Ty Lee breathes in slowly, inhaling the scent of gravel and flowers.

It will be okay.

"You don't like the dress," Seiri remarks as she studies Ty Lee closely. "You're beautiful; people will be looking at your face, not the dress. You have such stunning eyes, after all."

"Thank you," Ty Lee chokes. Her cheeks flush slightly at the welcome compliment. "I don't necessarily like the dress, but it's fine. It looks good."

"They had to make it at the last second. Given the... erm, circumstances," Seiri says before blushing much more fiercely than Ty Lee. Skirting around the fact that Azula changed plans a year in the making is evident in the words of everyone Ty Lee encounters. "The party has been planned for a long time."

"As I said," Azula purrs, wrapping her arm around Ty Lee's waist. Ty Lee blushes light pink, happy for the contact. "It's just a party. And they'll all be paying attention to you; you'll like that."

"I guess," Ty Lee says slowly before grinning. She knows she should enjoy this; she _knows _she should.

And she and Azula walk up the path with their hands intertwined, entering the house and being greeted by servants and dignitaries alike. Ty Lee's heart is beating out of her chest as they are guided to the main room, which has marks on the floor as if furniture has been moved to make room for the guests.

Ty Lee is stunned by one thing above all else: the food. She has never been starving, never been neglected when it came to trying every delicacy from Fire to Water to Earth. But this seems a little lavish for people who dedicate their lives to staying muscular and capable of throttling an earthbender with their bare hands.

Endless tables of expensive food. Anything you could possibly imagine. Meat, evidently, and a lot of it, a lot of it turning on flaming spits. The fires have all been turned colors and Ty Lee is not sure how that works, but it looks very impressive. She particularly likes the pink flame that is keeping warm something with tentacles and a spicy sauce. Cheeses, breads, vegetables Ty Lee cannot name, _oh the chocolate_, literal waterfalls of wine coming from bowls with statues of Fire Nation spirits, and streams of hard liquor kept away from the never-ending fire.

"Can I just eat some of everything?" Ty Lee whispers to Azula as Mai arrives with Zuko hooked to her arm. She is muscling him across the room, avoiding all of the stares at the traitor prince. He is not welcome here and she very well knows it; Ozai has tasked her with keeping her boyfriend out of trouble.

"You better pace yourself. I'm not holding your hair while you hurl," Azula whispers back before greeting Mai and her brother.

Azula and Ty Lee try to stay out of the way at first. But it is impossible; Seiri was right and everybody wants to talk to them. It is stunning compared to the propaganda tour, in which Ty Lee thought Azula was swamped. But now everyone in the entire mansion wants to be talking to them.

Ty Lee thrives on the attention, bouncing comments around and giggling. Azula holds onto her as her eyes continuously flicker to her father, whom Ty Lee realizes is watching them later than she should have. The tension between Azula and Ozai is palpable and it deeply concerns Ty Lee.

"Are we in trouble?" Ty Lee asks as Azula drags her to a dance floor and pulls her into a tiny dance that consists of doing a few steps in a small circle. They are not noticed amongst the sea of couples. Fortunately, in Azula's opinion. Unfortunately, in Ty Lee's.

"Yes," Azula replies softly as they spin around. Ty Lee leans very close and feels the heat that radiates from her fiancée.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Ty Lee asks softly, digging her fingers into Azula. The princess realizes how frightened she is when she feels her palpitating heart. Her lips purse slightly; this is problematic.

"We're supposed to play along with my father quietly and calmly until we marry and everything cools down," Azula replies slowly, drawing each word out. No one can overhear due to the music, but Ty Lee still feels slightly nervous.

The speech comes after the first half of the party. People are seated, around each other, and Ty Lee and Azula are guided onto a stage that looks like it was just built. Ty Lee's skirt catches slightly on a bent nail and there is a small tear. She gulps as Azula strings her along the stage.

"It's my pleasure to introduce my daughter and her fiancee," Ozai says, glancing at Azula. She smiles warmly at the audience and Ty Lee grins a little too forcefully. "We've been planning this engagement for some time and I'm very happy for her. She is so incredibly _in love_." And Azula kisses Ty Lee on the cheek to punctuate his words. The crowd _oo_s and _aww_s, smitten by teenage love. "Right now is a time of trial for our Nation. We've won the war against the other nations and have to look inward at ourselves. And I'm sure we will love looking at this darling couple."

His words are cold and dark but the people perceive them as warm. Azula feels her heart racing as she tries to keep herself calm. Ozai continues his speech, most of the words directed at Azula. He suspects she will try to overthrow him and, to be honest, it worries her. But she plays the ditsy girl who is excited to get married and the party guests eat it up.

"I'm sure we're all looking forward to seeing her wedding dress," Ozai finishes as the people clap. He sits beside Azula as the wedding planner starts making a speech. The wedding planner is the kind of woman who wears lip-liner and too much of it. He turns to his daughter and quietly says, "You are on very thin ice, I hope you know that? Don't make a mistake. I don't just want the public to believe you love her; _I _want to believe you love her."

"I _am_ a good liar, father," Azula says without looking at him.

And so the speeches continue.

"Can I steal your fiancée for a dance?" Admiral Zhao asks Ty Lee and she glances nervously at Azula. The princess is locked in a dry conversation with a girl she attended school with, pretending to be interested.

"I guess," Ty Lee squeaks, unsure how to deny him. She tugs on Azula's arm and the princess turns to face Zhao, instantly turning her expression sour.

Ty Lee opens her mouth to tell Azula, but the princess interrupts with, "I heard. I heard. I'll dance with you."

And so she walks to Zhao, looking vaguely like she is floating, and takes his hand. She is in control of this situation but that does not stop a small surge of anxiety. There are bound to be some form of repercussions from her stunt on the balcony. But he is in no position to dole them out or grant them.

"That was interesting," Zhao remarks as he slips one hand behind Azula's back. The steps of this dance could be performed on a pie plate. And they are very deliberate and slow.

"I was desperately in love, you see," Azula purrs and his fingers dig into her spine slightly. But she does not wince or lash out at him; she is playing this as calmly as she can. Starting a fight on the dance floor, while satisfying, would not be in the best interest of her play for power.

"With her...?" Zhao's gaze leads Azula to glance at Ty Lee, who seems to be struggling to eat while Mai looks pained with secondhand embarrassment. The tentacles of the calamari keep slipping out of her pink lips. Azula swallows.

"Yes, with her. I've loved her since we were children and the thought of marrying someone other than her terrified me. Enough that my own life didn't matter," Azula says, the words rehearsed yet believable. Her talents as a liar have only come to serve her well.

"Is that so?" He does not believe her and she can tell. But she does not care at all. She simply watches the party watching them and feels a small satisfaction. "It probably would have been in your best interest to go with the plan."

"Probably. But it's too late to go back now," Azula says as the music shifts into another song. She does not recognize any of them; the band must be playing their own creations instead of traditional melodies.

"I suppose it is," Zhao says, leaning far too close to her.

"It would probably be in your best interest to stay on my good side. I'm not finished," Azula says softly and Zhao stiffens. "This has been a nice dance."

"Not very long," he says as she breaks free of him.

"What can I say? I'm a tease." And she walks to Mai, Ty Lee and Zuko, shuddering. He is not someone she wants to deal with much longer.

"What did he want?" Ty Lee asks softly, examining Azula.

"Nothing," Azula lies and Ty Lee does not question her. She simply finishes her calamari, with a struggle and takes the princess's hand again.

"Do you want to go outside?" Ty Lee asks softly, squeezing Azula's hand.

"I would love to." Azula glances around at the guests, now more occupied with each other than with Azula and Ty Lee. And so the two girls duck out of the party into the well-kept garden. "I feel very watched."

"Tell me about it," Ty Lee squeaks as they are finally alone.

The night air is cool and comfortable as Azula plucks one of the ruby, dew studded flowers and slips it behind Ty Lee's ear. While the acrobat tries to be flattered, she knows very well that she and Azula do not love each other in the same way.

"Do you think," Ty Lee asks as she studies the sky, "two people ever love each other the same way at the same time?"

Azula looks up at the stars and shrugs. "Probably not. It's unfortunate."

"Are you really going to take the country?"

"Well, that changed quickly," Azula purrs, taken off guard by Ty Lee's comment. She truly did not expect her to be so astute or blunt.

"I want to know," Ty Lee insists softly and Azula shrugs again.

"I think I will," Azula replies honestly, startled she does not lie. But Ty Lee deserves to know if they are going to be married. "We'll reign together. It should be fun."

"But your father?"

"I love him." Hesitation. "But he uses my love. Why can't I use his?"

"I love _you_," Ty Lee says smoothly and Azula smiles faintly. Her thoughts were lingering on her father and how he is the sole reason she trusts no one, including Ty Lee. "You know, I'm pretty excited about this whole wedding thing."

"You _would _be," Azula laughs, shaking her head slowly. "I never planned weddings as a child. I planned... battles. This should be interesting for me, at least."

"Interesting is good," Ty Lee says, slipping closer to Azula. She kisses her warmly on the lips and Azula enjoys it. She likes the way she tastes, the way she smells, but she cannot love her no matter how hard she tries.

Maybe Azula simply cannot love. It is possible to be born that way, isn't it?

Isn't it?

She watches Ty Lee explore the garden in moderate awe of her beauty and naivety.

Mai was right. Azula could live a thousand lifetimes and not deserve her.

* * *

Ty Lee pulls off her uncomfortable, relatively ugly dress and lies down on her bed in one of the many guest rooms of the royal palace. She is staying here until she and Azula leave for the Earth Kingdom, and then will move in permanently after the wedding.

She lights candles with a match she struggles to find, and finally sits down on the bed and rubs her temples. This night has been both fun, but also terrifying. Ozai speech makes her nervous, Azula scares her, her stomach hurts from eating too much and she thinks she may be about to be involved in an usurping.

The circus was much, much simpler.

Across the palace, Azula also settles down to sleep. She is very displeased with how tonight has turned out, but at least she survived. Her thoughts cannot linger long on the next phase of her plan as all she wants to do is sleep. Sleep, sweet sleep. It is funny how she can feel such a _buzz _while at the party, thinking through social situations, and once she alone, just want to drift off permanently.

She slips under her blankets and sleeps until the doorknob twists.

Down the hall, Zuko lies intertwined with Mai. "She's going to get us all killed with this Ty Lee thing, isn't she?" he asks and Mai groans. She was _almost _asleep.

"Probably. I don't blame her though. Being forced to marry you is bad enough and I actually like you. Imagine if _you _were told your reward for conquering Ba Sing Se was marrying Zhao," Mai says, yawning. Zuko has to admit she has a point.

"Yeah. Here's to hoping our deaths are quick and painless."

They kiss.

* * *

"So, we have to get to the Fire Nation," Aang says happily, as if this does not pose a massive problem. Sokka only rubs his temples in response. "That shouldn't be... too hard."

"Shouldn't be too hard?" Sokka breathes in disbelief. Katara squirms; she agrees with her brother. "Shouldn't be _too hard_? The temple we have to get to is directly in the line of sight of the navy. Close to the Capitol City! We would be _so _screwed if we got caught."

"But we have to talk to Avatar Roku," Aang replies, looking weak. Katara rubs his back and Sokka groans. He is certain that the Avatar is not the weapon they need, but no one is agreeing with him. "He might know how to defeat the Fire Nation!"

Sokka pauses. He had not thought of that. But why wouldn't the Fire Avatar know how to beat them? Or at least an idea. That might _almost _be worth delving into the Fire Nation.

"I _do _have Katara and I's passports from when we were going to infiltrate," Sokka says slowly, hating how Katara and Aang look so thrilled that he is agreeing. It bothers him to no end. "We can go to the Fire Nation to talk to Roku _if_ you agree to help us with the infiltration plan."

"But we have to go to the North Pole."

"Well that first, yes. But Aang still hasn't said yes," Sokka says with a cocked eyebrow and Aang swallows.

"I guess it can't hurt?" he says hopefully and Sokka nods. This better pay off.

Katara claps her hands and they both curl up to spend the night on Kyoshi Island before taking Appa to see the Fire Sages.


	7. Chapter 7

"I don't, uh, I don't know," Ty Lee says, squinting at the flowers. They have minute differences, but they all are red, have petals, and smell fragrant. Usually, she would just point to the prettiest one, but the weight on her shoulders is becoming painful.

Today is her first day of wedding planning, and certainly not the last. Today is the first day when it truly sets in that she is involved in this scam and there is no escaping no matter how hard she bats her eyelashes or pleads. She is marrying Princess Azula, not because of love or an arrangement, but because of treason. And the fact that she agreed certainly makes her an accessory in treason, particularly since she happens to be a spy for Fire Lord Ozai, feeding him false information.

"I'll take care of it," Seiri says as Ty Lee points at three different flowers and the florist breaks out into a sweat. "Why don't you help the princess organize the wedding party?"

Ty Lee glances at Azula, who looks as if she would rather be stranded at sea than filling out the list in front of her. She pushes a flower away from her face and sneezes. Ty Lee smiles faintly at how cute she is when she sneezes, like a little baby tiger monkey.

"So, uh, I guess this is up to you or something," Ty Lee says, sitting down in front of Azula. "I kind of imagined I would be your maid of honor and you would be _mine_. But, I guess... we're the happy couple."

"Hm." Azula is tired, annoyed, sweating from the humid flower shop, and looking at the list of requirements her father left for her, which seem to simply be made to make her life more difficult.

"You look very unhappy," Ty Lee comments, setting her chin in her hands and her elbows on the small table.

"Hm," is the only response Ty Lee gets.

"Did you not sleep last night?" Ty Lee inquires, starting to read the wedding party list Ozai gave Azula.

_It's hard to sleep when you're plotting overthrowing an empire_, Azula thinks, but she says aloud, "No, I didn't. Why don't _you _do this for me? You strike me as the kind of person who spends their entire life planning their wedding. I never really thought about it."

Ty Lee _has _spent her entire life planning her wedding, but she did not imagine it as being an act of defiance against the Fire Lord. And she did not imagine how much stress she and Azula are under right now with the scrutiny and paranoia of Fire Lord Ozai.

This morning Ty Lee overheard an argument between two advisors to the Fire Lord. Their tones were hushed but she moved silently on her way to Azula's room. They were discussing how the Fire Lord was becoming more and more paranoid every day, and that people were disappearing left and right.

And it was only then that the weight of what she and Azula have done set in. Ozai fears Azula more than he fears government officials. And now Ty Lee is bound to whatever fate Azula faces. And the princess seems to think she can easily claim an empire is hers without her father putting up a fight.

But Ty Lee blinks away those thoughts and tries to think about who she wants to be the flower girl. That is significantly easier for her. She can take calm breaths as Azula is curled up sleeping on her chair, and think about how she will be a princess soon, and have a glamorous royal wedding. Even if it will forever put her under the scrutiny of Ozai.

Until the day she becomes Fire Lady. And Ty Lee thinks that Azula will have that happen earlier rather than later. And it has been giving Ty Lee nausea, pain and vivid dreams of everything she loves burning up in blue fire, one by one. Or the waking nightmares of what would happen if Ozai simply made everybody in her family disappear.

Ty Lee gulps again, knowing she has gotten too lost in her thoughts. Not thinking is easier. Not thinking is always easier. She scrawls down a few suggestions on the paper Azula has abandoned in favor of sleep. And she controls the breathing she thinks would spiral out of control if she left it unchecked.

She feels weak in the knees and fuzzy in the head. The scent of flowers makes her feel even dizzier, and so she barely notices when the windows next to her break, and she instinctively dodges and hits the floor.

Seiri screams, terrified. Azula jumps up, no longer groggy. A bench from across the street was just thrown through the window of the flower shop, and broken glass now litters the floor. Azula catches sight of three slender people in masks and throws herself over the broken window, narrowly avoiding a nasty cut.

"I'll follow her," Ty Lee tells Seiri, who looks on the verge of tears as the florist clings onto her.

Ty Lee vaults over the broken window and runs after Azula as she chases the three masked figures through busy streets. Ty Lee knocks down things people are holding, stammering apologies as she runs and flips over things that are in her way. She moves as if gravity does not exist, and her heart pounds as she follows the girl she has sworn to protect, however little protection Azula needs.

Azula is standing at the edge of a fork in the streets, gasping for breath. Ty Lee reaches her and grabs her arm.

"Where did they go?" Ty Lee asks, looking around frantically.

"I lost them," Azula says, shrugging. Ty Lee wonders why she is not taking it seriously, until she holds up a small book. "But they dropped this."

Ty Lee smiles at Azula's small smirk.

* * *

Azula and Ty Lee sit in her room with the door locked and the shades drawn. The only light comes from a single oil lamp, and Ty Lee can barely see the smudged lettering in the book.

"You're going to get angry at me for saying this, princess," Ty Lee squeaks, afraid to continue but knowing she _must_. "But I think you should give this to your father."

"Why?" Azula snaps and Ty Lee recoils. "I need all the weapons I can get. For my whole life I have tolerated every kind of abuse and frustration and ridiculous demand. I tolerated my father robbing me of my best ideas and acting as if he handed me my victory over Ba Sing Se on a platter. People are making their plays for power, Ty Lee. I'm not saying they endanger us, but I can name at least three people who would give their right arm to see us on a pyre."

"Like Zhao," Ty Lee murmurs."

"Mhm. You think he was going to marry me because I'm just so _pretty_? He lost his chance at seizing the throne. My father thinks he's protecting himself by being so paranoid. But he's screwing himself. And the throne is _my _birthright. If I have to fight tooth and nail like some kind of _animal_ to get what I've suffered for sixteen years for, so be it," Azula lectures and Ty Lee averts her eyes, cheeks flushed with humiliation.

"What does the book say?" Ty Lee asks, pushing her fears to the back of her mind and trying her best not to think.

"It's details about the Civil War," Azula says, setting it on her knees and leaning back against her pillows. "A lot observations. They've been watching us. And a handful of other people. They've also been watching the Avatar."

Ty Lee's eyes flutter in surprise. "You think the Avatar is going to...?"

"I think he's trying to get to the North Pole. And I also _know _that he betrayed the rebels in the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe by running away instead of following their plans. It's just intercepted correspondence but it's good to know," Azula says softly, flipping through the book. "If he needs a waterbending teacher, do you think he needs a firebending teacher?"

"You're kidding, right?" Ty Lee whimpers.

"Mostly." Azula shrugs and turns the wrinkled page. "Although if we had the Avatar we would be ahead of the game. Right now we're far too close to the rest of the pack for my liking. The Avatar is younger than us, you know?"

"I didn't," Ty Lee says, surprised no one told her.

After years of working as a spy for Ozai, she gives him information and receives nothing in return. Given, she has been feeding him false information since Azula confided in her that she is going to make an attempt at the throne. But all the same, it would be a courtesy to tell her some basics about the enemy.

"I don't know right now. I'm still figuring this out." Azula closes the book with a snap that makes Ty Lee jump and flinch. "Possibly I can join the side of the Civil War against my father."

"The side that keeps trying to kill us?" Ty Lee asks and Azula smirks as if she knows something. "What is it? What?"

"Those assassins that came after us weren't working for the Fire Nation rebels."

"Who, then?" Ty Lee whispers.

"They were working for someone we may know. _Admiral Zhao_."

Ty Lee takes a deep breath. She has clearly stumbled into a very dark chasm and she cannot see the bottom as she falls. Azula sits up on her knees and kisses Ty Lee to no response.

"I can't make out with you after being told that people in our own government are trying to have us killed," Ty Lee hisses as Azula kisses her cheek.

"Oh, relax. Before a Civil War even starts I ─ _we'll _─ be comfortably in power," Azula says.

"I, uh, love your confidence, princess," is all Ty Lee can say without lying.

"Blue is really the throne room's color," Azula says before pushing Ty Lee down by the shoulders.

* * *

It is five in the morning when Ty Lee is woken, her arms wrapped around Princess Azula. She quickly moves away, not wanting to be caught clinging to her fiancée in bed with her clothes half off. Azula clumsily crawls away from her at the pounding on the door and the voice of Seiri.

Azula rubs her face, ignoring Ty Lee asking quietly if she should hide under the bed, and opens the door.

"Training," Seiri says sharply, tapping a clipboard, and Azula squints at her as if she does not understand.

"The sun isn't up. Do you expect me to firebend before the sun is up?" Azula demands groggily, her words slurred. Ty Lee has never heard her so _tired_, despite their recent developments as bedfellows. Perhaps staying up all night planning how to pick off her enemies one by one is exhausting. And... the sleep deprivation Ty Lee may or may not have a part in.

"Your father insists that you practice for longer hours after what happened at the flower shop. He worries deeply about another assassination attempt," Seiri says brightly and Azula refrains from burning one of her eyebrows off as she slams the door shut to get dressed.

"I'll train with you," Ty Lee suggests cheerily as she sits up. Azula stares at her for a moment. "It'll look pretty good if we're training together. The whole, uh, madly in love thing, right?"

Azula looks her up and down. "You make a good point. Get dressed. I think it's raining."

Ty Lee finds clothes, none of which are suitable for rain but all of which are fine for training, and follows Azula into the grey morning. It is dead quiet; nobody wakes up before the sunrise in the Fire Nation unless they're a farmer. Even _coal miners _have foremen with more decency than forcing the madness of waking before the sun.

Azula takes it as a threat from Ozai and she is right to. With these little gestures, he reminds her that he still has power over her, which Azula finds to be overkill and unnecessary. It certainly leads Azula to believe that he may be suspecting her desire to seize power during such a tumultuous time.

But it will not stop her. He cannot stop her if he tries.

Azula was absolutely right with her assumption ─ it is raining. The ground is muddy and disgusting, and, so help her, if she falls and gets drenched in mud, she may do something incredibly drastic. People will _suffer _until she takes a hot bath.

Ty Lee shivers in the rain as she walks to Azula, grimacing at the mud sticking to her shoes. It feels like a bad omen that the rain is pouring so hard during an autumn drought and Ty Lee does not like it.

"Let's run and talk," Azula says, seizing her accomplice by the arm and starting to run her usual path. It is not her favorite activity; she prefers firebending stances over running like some kind of nonbender, but it is right now the best way to conceal their conversation.

"What do you want to talk about?" Ty Lee asks, blinking twice and smiling. Azula looks at her and seals her lips tightly; she may have delved into a play for the throne with the most incompetent and trusting person in the world.

"The Avatar," Azula breathes and Ty Lee knits her eyebrows together. She has no idea what the Avatar has to do with evading Ozai's wrath for the botched engagement to Zhao.

"What does the Avatar have to do with this?" Ty Lee hisses, rounding the corner with Azula and sliding across the mud. It splashes onto her clothes and stains the pink brown and black.

"He's the token. I've been playing dumb in war meetings for two weeks now and everyone wants to get the Avatar first."

"But obviously he'll join the rebels," Ty Lee murmurs, gasping for breath as they turn again. "I mean, there's a reason your father is so scared of him."

"Right now, I have the potential to take the throne. Right now, I have the potential to gain allies in the people who aren't contented with my father's reign. But I don't have an advantage," Azula says, running more slowly but glancing around for anyone who could be listening.

"Why don't we become free agents?" Ty Lee murmurs, stopping to catch her breath. Azula slides across the mud as she spins around on her heel and leans close to her fiancée.

"What do you mean?" Azula asks, shocked that Ty Lee seems to be _conniving_. Perhaps something hides beneath romance, stating the obvious and make-up.

"I mean, right now there are three factions, right? There's the people loyal to your father who we have zero chance with. There are the rebels within our nation who attacked us on the propaganda tour, who, if any of them decided to do the thing that will make them wealthy and powerful, will tell your father and expose you. I don't want to think about what he would do to you, Azula. Then there are the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe rebels, who, if they had the Avatar yet, we would know about. But they obviously are no help when you want to reign over an empire and not live in some mud hut or something. So, we really have no good options."

"Yes, I know my chances are fairly abysmal but I can't simply take the country without any support," Azula says, crossing her arms. Her father did, she knows her father did. But Azula is too smart to take such a reckless chance.

"Okay, you took a chance when you kissed me on that balcony. You're taking a bigger chance with the idea of usurping your father. I say, play on everybody's side until you choose," Ty Lee says slowly, her eyes sparkling. Azula is carefully contemplating it as rain drenches her body.

"Play on everybody's side?" Azula breathes. "That's..."

"Something you could easily do. Azula, you could manipulate strategists and kings in your sleep. Don't tell me you can't convince everyone you're on their side until you have the right moment to strike," Ty Lee says and Azula squints at her. It is a very strange morning. "You don't work for anybody; you're Princess Azula. You see what you want and take it by any means."

"I do," Azula says with a slight tilt of her head. "You want to help me?"

"We're in this together, princess," Ty Lee replies fiercely, her tone no longer saccharine and her innocent eyes glittering with passion. "The minute you used me to defy your father I got roped into more than just a fake romance. His paranoia isn't getting better and the Civil War isn't slowing down. The Fire Nation needs a real leader. It needs you."

Azula is moved, slightly, by the rare conviction coming from Ty Lee. And she has honestly never heard something so sexy.

"It would be so much easier if I just walked into his bedroom at night and hit him with lightning, wouldn't it?" Azula sighs, although she is well aware that is not an option.

"Make everybody trust you until you're ready to dispose of them," Ty Lee says and Azula has never heard anything as appealing as that. She only wishes she had thought of the free agent idea herself.

Azula wishes she had more to say as she presses her lips against Ty Lee's. Everything is wet, her clothes are soaked through when Azula puts her hand on the small of her back. Hips touching, everything touching through drenched clothes.

"Azula," says the last voice she wanted to hear after her discussion with Ty Lee, nor during a impromptu make-out session in the rain.

"Yes, father?" Azula asks, her cheeks flushed.

"I need you to go to the Fire Sage shrine on Crescent Island and retrieve the Avatar for me. Bring your bodyguards," Ozai says, reluctant to refer to Ty Lee as anything but that.

Azula loves it when things work out without her tipping the scales of fate.


	8. Chapter 8

The trip to Crescent Island is fast and rocky with angry waves. They are taken by boat, Azula wringing her hands and Mai sharpening blades. Ty Lee sits, staring through the window at the ocean and the approaching island of the Fire Sages.

Azula crosses her arms and sighs. "What do we do once we get there?"

"We stop the Avatar from, uh, whatever it is he's doing," Mai replies dryly and Azula purses her lips. She hopes Mai is not as much of a traitor as Azula often believes. Her loyalties seem to be more with Ozai than Azula half of the time. Then again, the only reason Azula trusts Ty Lee is because she is too dumb to trick Azula. But Mai is smart.

She thinks this could be played to a better advantage than just capturing the Avatar for her father. The most important piece in this game is the Avatar, and Azula wants him. If she is going to take her play for power seriously, she needs him.

And seeing how much she likes Ty Lee's idea, she thinks that making the Avatar think she is on his side will be better than locking him in chains and handing him over to her country. Azula loves the Fire Nation and wants the Avatar imprisoned and kept from ruining her empire, _but _she also knows that there are cleverer ways to win wars than just hacking and slashing, following blind orders from the Fire Lord.

Azula intends to express her willingness to play with others than just her father. In fact, her _desire _to play with others. And this poses an intriguing opportunity.

She sits beside Ty Lee as soldiers start watching her, and she realizes she does not want to look like she is putting too much thought into this.

"When we get there, we're going to help the Avatar," Azula whispers in Ty Lee's ear before kissing her neck to cover the motion. The soldier thinks nothing of it, averting his eyes in some semblance of respect for privacy.

"Why?" Ty Lee murmurs. Azula wishes she were working with someone more intelligent at times. Lack of smarts means no surprises, but also little help with conniving.

"To play on all sides. We have him lead us to why he's here in the Avatar Temple. Tell my father what he came for and say we helped him for information. Make the Avatar think we're loyal to balance and don't trust my father. Then wherever we want to go, we go," Azula says and Ty Lee's eyes light up.

"That's so brilliant, princess!" Ty Lee says a little too loudly. She masks the outburst by kissing Azula and sliding her hand behind the princess's back. They cling to each other for a moment and Azula enjoys the slow heat more than she should.

"I know," Azula whispers, nearly into Ty Lee's lips. The hot breath of the princess sends shivers through Ty Lee, and Azula pulls away before Ty Lee notices she has.

Ty Lee closes her eyes and savors the closeness. She knows she should not, by all means. Azula is using her just as she is about to use the Avatar. But it feels nice to be with her. Falling in love with the wrong person is messy. Far, far too messy.

The ship stops outside of Crescent Island. Azula's eyes linger on Ty Lee for a moment and Ty Lee wonders if the romantic glance is real or not.

She hopes it is real. But that might be too optimistic.

* * *

Azula arrives at Crescent Island and steps onto the long grey stone path up the volcanic mountain. The stairs glisten in the winter sunlight, and the building has beautiful, layered red and orange roofs and gilded pillars. A door carved into a gold and red fire shaped fixture stands in front of her.

"We go alone," Princess Azula says to the soldiers behind her. "I think we can handle the Avatar and his Water Tribe friends."

One of the men opens his mouth to protest, but Azula silences him with a single glance.

Meanwhile, Aang, Katara and Sokka have just entered. "It's almost sundown. Go, go," Aang says, dashing across the floor with his feet barely touching the ground.

They walk in and see a gathering of grey-haired, bearded men in red. Katara and Sokka find their clothes and hats funny, and Aang smiles widely at them. Their dark eyes fixate on the three children standing in the nearly empty temple.

"We are the Fire Sages, guardians of the Temple of the Avatar," the man in the front says proudly, thinking only of his orders from Fire Lord Ozai that arrived an hour ago.

"Great, I am the Avatar," Aang says gladly and then he narrowly dodges fire coming at him from each man's hands.

Katara dives out of the way of more fire, and as a sharp red flame is about to hit Aang, the fire is all blocked and the room turns blue. Katara glances around, her eyes wide and sparkling with the azure glow. Knives hit one of the sages by the shirt, thrusting him backwards with force.

"One of you must be loyal to the Avatar," purrs a voice that gives Katara chills for an inexplicable reason. "Or at least loyal to me."

"Princess?" stammers the Fire Sage who first struck out at the Avatar.

"Yes. Mai, Ty Lee, control the Avatar's friends," Azula orders and her friend and fiancee obey. Katara and Sokka are too stunned to resist as the two Fire Nation girls grab onto them.

"Hi, handsome," Ty Lee whispers to Sokka and Katara rolls her eyes at his blush.

"What are you here for, Avatar?" Azula asks as the Fire Sages are confused.

"I have to see Avatar Roku?" Aang scratches his head. His feet are poised for an attack against the girl with the scary blue fire, but she just saved he and Sokka and Katara.

"That's in the sanctuary," the Fire Sage says as Azula stares at him expectantly. "Princess, the Fire Lord sent word that we are to apprehend the Avatar and not allow him to complete his task."

Azula reads their faces. None of them intend to cooperate.

"Fine. Have it your way. My offer still stands for one of you," Azula says and one sage stands up. "You, take us. None of you try to stop me or I will have you executed. Come on, Avatar."

"Aang, I don't trust her," Katara whispers and Aang frowns.

"We don't have a choice. It's getting late," Aang says quietly with his brow knit. And Aang, with a deep, calming breath, follows the strange princess into the tunnels.

Mai and Ty Lee drag Katara and Sokka along with them as the sole Fire Sage guides them. Azula examines the temple. It is incredibly beautiful, she must admit. The Fire Sages always fascinated her, but she had only seen the ones from the Capitol Temple. This volcanic island is new.

They reach a door.

"That's an impressive door," Ty Lee says as Sokka tries to break from her grip. She tightens it, one elbow resting on his gut. He inhales sharply.

"How do we open it?" Azula demands of the Fire Sage. Aang looks for an escape route in case this is a trap.

"Only a fully realized Avatar, or all of the sages at─"

The room turns blue again and the door churns open. "What was that?" Azula asks, gesturing at the room that has just opened.

He averts his eyes.

"Don't go in," Sokka says and the princess glares at him. "Are you really trusting a firebender?"

The light starts to hit the statue and Aang ignores his friends. He runs inside just as the door bursts open and the Fire Sages, along with a familiar man and Azula's soldiers she left on the ship all enter the room.

Azula spins around and conjures lightning, making Katara yelp and Sokka's eyes widen. She fires a warning shot past Zhao's ear, but he does not heed it.

"Where's the Avatar?" Zhao demands. "They tell me you helped him on his task, against your father's orders."

"They tell me you sent assassins after me and my fiancee," Azula says, cocking an eyebrow. Zhao's eyes flash.

The room glows as the solstice begins, and Mai drops Katara in the blinding light. Azula still waits as one of Azula's men grabs Mai, and Zhao lunges for Ty Lee.

Katara and Sokka are seized easily in the confusion.

Azula faints as the glow settles and Aang finds himself before Avatar Roku. Zhao catches her as Ty Lee lunges and misses, reeled back by soldiers. Azula is gone from them as the soldiers hold Katara, Mai, Ty Lee and Sokka in place, and Zhao watches Azula with a twisted glint in his eyes that makes Ty Lee sick as he holds her unconscious form.

Azula finds herself watching an image. She sees Roku and she sees the Avatar.

"I don't know what to do. I only know airbending," Aang says and Azula takes note. "I didn't... the Fire Nation has already won and I don't know what to do."

"Avatar Kyoshi sent for you to come here. The fight is not over. Balance is not forever taken away, even when wars are over. If you can master the elements, you can still restore balance and help the rebellion," Roku says and Aang stares at him.

"I don't know how," Aang sighs.

"Before you leave the Fire Nation, you need to find my great granddaughter. The Fire Nation is approaching Civil War, and now is the right time to strike. The discord that came after the Comet makes him vulnerable, but it will only last until the throne is secured by Fire Lord Ozai or whoever trie to overthrow him. You must restore balance before the Civil War ends and the Fire Nation is secured in power," Roku says and Aang is silent. "The hope never dies. Remember that."

"I don't think I can..." Aang swallows. Azula narrows her eyes. "I can't learn the elements in time."

"I know you can do it. You have done it many times before. The solstice is ending," Roku says and Azula is torn from the vision.

She wakes in the muscular arms of Zhao and she jumps away from him. Glancing around, her friends are in chains and the Avatar's companions are as well.

"I'm sure your father will be very interested in you helping the Avatar," Zhao says. "And also in the Avatar himself."

The door opens and Azula spins to the side, she breaks the chains around the Avatar's friends and punches a fist into Zhao. The room spins with the force of the Avatar, and Azula is grabbed by the wrists.

And so the escape begins.

* * *

"We need to land," Aang says as his heart races with panic. "Appa is hit."

They have just maneuvered out of an assault on them as they escaped. It is dark and Aang lands Appa in the countryside by cliffs and sharp rocks.

"Great, we're in the Fire Nation now," Katara sighs as Appa finishes landing. Aang is examining the singed fur and talking to the sky bison.

"He can't fly until we get him fixed," Aang snaps and Katara is startled at his frustration. "Sokka kept going on and on about how we had to infiltrate the Fire Nation, anyway. Avatar Roku said I need to find his great granddaughter. And he said we only have a limited time before the Fire Nation is secured in power; there's a Civil War coming. His great granddaughter is in the Fire Nation."

"We have to go to the North Pole," Katara says and Sokka looks at her skeptically. Her big blue eyes burn when they fall on her brother.

"I think you're more worried about learning waterbending than you are about winning the war," Sokka states, unafraid to voice this opinion. He crosses his arms.

"What war, Sokka? What war? The Fire Nation _won _the war last summer," Katara says and Appa makes a groaning noise. Aang furrows his brow. "We need to train Aang in the other elements and prepare for a _real _strike. None of this rebellion stuff you're so obsessed with."

Sokka hesitates. He came with Katara and Aang for more reasons than just protecting his sister. He _does _know that training the Avatar beats any plans the rebellion has made.

Katara slides off of Appa and sets her feet on the Fire Nation soil. It looks like the Earth Kingdom, save for different flora. She imagined it to look very different.

"We'll get to the North Pole," Sokka begrudgingly admits, rubbing his neck. "That's clearly our priority. But Aang's weird spirit dream says that we need to find someone in the Fire Nation to join us."

"Not just any someone. His great grandchild. How easy to find," Katara sighs, kicking a rock. "We need new clothes, we need medicine for Appa and we need a better plan than start asking Fire Nation citizens if they're descended from the Fire Avatar."

They would all rather be continuing to the North Pole, but while waterbending is in Katara and Aang's minds constantly, ending the war is the most important. And if hiding in the Fire Nation and figuring out how to fulfill Roku's demand must be done to end the war, they'll have to save it for later.

"I suggest starting with the officials," Aang says as he checks Appa's wound again and Sokka and Katara are both surprised he is being tactical. He tends to prefer going with the flow, as airbenders do. "If we can find a way to get in with the important people, we have better chances."

"And you said you didn't _want _to infiltrate the Fire Nation," Sokka groans, but he agrees.

They hide Appa and head out in search of new clothes and medicine for the sky bison's injuries.

* * *

Azula kneels before the throne of her father. He examines her closely, waiting to choose the right words.

"You aided the Avatar and helped him escape," Ozai growls and Azula nods with her eyes closed for a moment.

"I had to, father. He was in the Fire Nation to figure out how to win the war. He would've found the information from Avatar Roku whether we stopped him or not. And it seemed tactically best to help him lead us to the information we need," Azula says, most of it true. Ozai examines her closely.

"You fainted?" Ozai asks and Azula nods.

"I can tell you about the dream I shared with him. The Avatar is planning on striking during a Civil War that is supposedly coming," Azula says and Ozai's expression shifts behind the curtain of flame. "I will do everything in my power to help."

She rises and bows before leaving. Close. Very close. Azula cannot believe he sent _Zhao_ after her, but she knows Ozai's trust in her has waned. She makes it back to her room and finds Ty Lee waiting for her inside. She is damp from the bath and wrapped in a robe, staring at the book Azula recovered from the assassins.

"What was your dream?" Ty Lee asks, touching Azula's hand. "What?"

"Avatar Roku. I didn't fully understand it. But I have an interest in this Avatar outside of him as a gambit," Azula purrs, pacing. Ty Lee chews on her lower lip. "He fascinates me. And you know what he needs? A firebending teacher."

"Azula... I don't think you can do that," Ty Lee says quietly, rubbing her hands on Azula's blankets.

"You said to play for all sides. He's gone for now, but... hm. We focus on our wedding, planning it, trying on dresses, playing lovers and picking up a little information. And then I think we make our play for the little airbender boy everybody wants," Azula says with a small smile.

Ty Lee chokes. "I love your ambition."

Azula suppresses a frown. "That's the kind of thing you say when you disagree with me."

"I have to say that helping the Avatar..." Ty Lee sighs.

"Well, we've made nice steps towards securing everyone's trust in us. The Avatar sees me as aiding him and his friends. My father thinks I moved tactically to help him. We can pick and choose any side we want to fight on."

Ty Lee says nothing. And then she changes the subject with, "Azula, is any of this real?"

"Any of what?" Azula is confused. First she looks at the book as if Ty Lee is referring to a passage, so the acrobat sets it beside her, closed on the bed.

"Any of the romance. Is it all just faked to cover up us trying to take the throne?" Ty Lee asks, her eyes sparkling with a worried glitter. Azula takes a deep breath.

"I loved you once," Azula says hesitantly. She never was good at expressing feelings or articulating her vulnerabilities. "When we were kids. But you left me, and I am never going to forget that."

"Oh." Ty Lee looks genuinely dejected and Azula sighs.

"Some of it is real. I don't protest to kissing you. And you aren't as awful of a partner in overthrowing a nation as one would think," Azula says slowly and smoothly. Ty Lee grins and Azula feels relief in her chest.

"I love you." Ty Lee's cheeks are bright red and her eyes glisten with tears of emotion.

"Good." Stale and cold words.

Azula picks up the book and starts studying again.


	9. Chapter 9

For the past two weeks, Katara, Aang and Sokka have been in the Fire Nation. Appa is still recovering from the cannon wound, and so they are hidden on cliffs beside the sea, hiding in caves. It is not what Katara would call and ideal scenario, particularly since the Fire Nation is the last place Katara wants to be, much less be stuck.

Sokka is trying to get into contact with any of the rebels nearby. They are ten miles from Caldera, and the looming dormant volcano makes Katara nervous every time she looks at it. The sooner Appa recovers and they can escape and head to the North Pole, the better.

Then again, it does pose the opportunity to find Roku's granddaughter, which Aang is dead set on doing before he resumes his quest. Katara wants to say that mastering the elements is more important... but she knows that part of that is her selfish desire to learn waterbending.

Katara ducks through the small town, feeling nervous. She is clutching stolen papers she took off of the table in the restaurant she was stealing food in and supposes she is doubly a thief now. But these papers are going to make all of the difference in helping their quest.

She finds Aang and Sokka back at their camp in the cliffs and proudly displays the fancy sheets of stationary and torn red and gold envelopes.

"Look what I found," Katara declares, walking to Aang, who is rubbing the salve on Appa and laughing and talking to his companion. Sokka is still mulling over endless papers he kept from his precious rebellion. "Invitations to the fourth engagement party of the crown princess of the Fire Nation."

"You just... found them?" Sokka narrows his eyes. "I don't trust it."

"It's worth a try. We said we had to start with the higher ups, and they're all going to be at the party. We just have to sneak in and..."

"And then make it to the royal archives," Sokka says and Katara tilts her head to the side. "I was reading this papers and they talk about, if the palace was infiltrated, the archives have detailed information on everyone in the Fire Nation. If we're looking for Avatar Roku's granddaughter; that's where we start."

"You just expect us to break into the tightly guarded archives." Katara crosses her arms. She hates how good of an idea this seems to be, and is terrified of executing it. Sneaking through the Fire Nation in their stolen peasant clothes feels like the easiest and safest thing to do.

"I _do_. You want to go to this party. Everyone will be distracted and then we can just sneak in and _bam_," Sokka explains and Katara makes a hmming sound in the back of her throat. "We only need a couple of minutes to find the information. It's risky, but so is sitting around in the Fire Nation with Appa on the mend. I say we take chances and risks because defeating the Fire Nation is _way _too important to play it safe. We have _The Avatar _now, Katara."

"You didn't like Aang that much until you realized he could help you," Katara says, brushing her hair out of her face. She is not a fan of the Fire Nation style she has put it into and the way she has resigned her Water Tribe way of dress.

"It'll be fun. Sneaking into the engagement party of the princess. The princess who seems to be suspiciously on our side. She saved us on Crescent Island, and that Admiral Zhao seemed pretty worried about her."

Katara narrows her eyes. "You just think she's hot, don't you?"

"No, not that. Well, not _just _that. I think that we have a lot to gain by sneaking into this Fire Nation party," Sokka says and Katara clenches and unclenches her fists. She hates when he is right.

"Well, looks like we've got to do some more stealing. I don't think they'd let us take out palace trash in these clothes," Katara says and Appa groans as if in assent.

And so she prepares for the riskiest move of her life. Katara can only hope that it pays off. In her years as a rebel, she always felt useless. Cast aside. The girl who cannot even waterbend, and spends all of her time by lakes instead of on the front lines. Who gives speeches about hope but cannot back it up by kicking ass.

Katara thinks she has too much to prove.

* * *

Azula walks out of Ozai's office shaking and trembling. Everything seemed to be going well. He believed her lies and it seemed she would win all too easily. But now she feels herself crumbling as she realizes that suffering will be her teacher.

She tries to fix her clothes, tries to make her hair lie flat and curve smoothly into the topknot. But she is disheveled and panicked as she tries to make it back to her bedroom without being noticed. The only choice is to run. Azula does not _want _to make that decision. But there is no changing it. She has to make it out. She has to escape. Before it is too late.

And too late is approaching extremely quickly.

Azula creeps back to her bedroom after her conversation with her father. This is not good. Action must be taken quickly, and her thoughts are not clear enough to properly focus. She rubs her face, eyeliner and lip paint smearing onto her pale hands.

Ty Lee is in bed, half asleep. How she can sleep at night when half of the country would give their left arm to see them dead is impossible for Azula to comprehend. She slips into bed beside her fiancee and Ty Lee moves into her arms. The heat of their bodies together is enough to distract Azula, but she knows she has to focus.

"Tomorrow night at my engagement party, we have to make a break for it," Azula whispers into Ty Lee's ear.

"What do you mean? Run away? Run away to where?" Ty Lee breathes, her eyes wide. She is no longer drowsy; she is wide awake and her blood is rushing with panic.

"I don't know. But we have to get out of here. My father..." Azula murmurs and Ty Lee grabs her hand and squeezes it tightly.

"Whatever your father does, he will wind up paying for it in the end," Ty Lee whispers gently to her fiancee. She wraps Azula further into her arms, tangling their bodies beneath the sheets.

Azula surrenders to the rise and fall of her chest, engulfed in her in this dark night.

But she cannot help but be thinking of how she will escape. How she _must _escape. Staying in the palace is no longer an option. There must be an out, must be a way.

* * *

The next day, Azula is prepared for the party for laborious hours. Ty Lee is beside her, trying to make it more tolerable. Most people would be annoyed by her, but Azula has grown to like it. If only because it means she has one dedicated person on her side as she grasps for power.

And Ty Lee has cute lips, even when they're moving to make terrible jokes. The sexual attraction is there, and it is strong. But Azula does not know about love. Love does not come easily nor does it come free, and Azula does not think she wants to pay the price.

"It's going to be fun," Ty Lee says as she allows her hair to be tugged into an intriguing braid in the shape of a dragon. Azula gazes at her hair with interest, and she thinks for a moment of how it will look with the crown of Fire Lady.

"It's the fourth engagement party. These are getting almost absurd," Azula says coldly as her hair is slowly, painstakingly combed into a Fire Nation topknot. "I'm almost _waiting _for my victory tour to resume so I can go to the Earth Kingdom. It's disgusting. I mean, even Ba Sing Se was disgusting."

"I heard people have been trying to reclaim Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee says casually and Azula nods. She has heard so as well.

"Our best are in that city. I doubt Ba Sing Se could be regained by the Earth Kingdom if they put all of their men to it," Azula says, picking at her nails. They need to be painted again, because they are sticky and chipping.

"I'd like to see Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee says and it takes a moment for Azula to realize that Ty Lee wants to run to _there_.

But it does not matter where Azula runs.

She just needs to leave the Fire Nation before it is too late.

* * *

Katara walks into the party feeling uncomfortable in her slinky red Fire Nation dress and elaborate make up. The harsh reds stand out too much against her darker skin, and she looks out of place amongst the much fairer party guests.

They got in by flashing the invitations; Katara imagined it would be much more difficult. She examines the security around the room and can understand why they are not too worried about a couple of kids sneaking in. They look tough and are all armed to the teeth. And from what Katara knows of Princess Azula, and from what she saw her do on Crescent Island, she does not think Azula needs much protecting.

"Okay, Katara, I figured out where the archive is," Sokka says into her ear as Aang is making small talk with a well dressed woman's pet lemur.

"That fast?" Katara's cobalt eyes flash in shock. Sokka slowly nods and then gestures down the hallway.

"The security isn't even tight. They're all focused on the princess and her fiancée," Sokka remarks and Katara smiles faintly. "Who we should stop by and visit once we've got this Roku information."

"How about you keep _quieter _when discussing our _secret _plans," Katara snarls at her brother. "Right, Aang? Aang?"

The Avatar is missing. Fantastic. The Avatar is missing. Katara looks around frantically, her vision fuzzy and double. She does not know what to think or do as she realizes that they are in the Fire Nation, in the Fire Lord's home, and the Avatar is missing.

"You go down that hallway. I'll look around the party," Sokka says, thinking quickly. Katara can only nod and take off down the hallway.

Katara heads down the hallway and she hears an altercation. Then a blast of flame, but it's... blue. The princess? Or maybe there a lot of blue firebenders in the Fire Nation. Katara has no idea, but she hears the strangled scream of a girl around her age and so she starts running, gathering water from the vases of flowers lining the hallway to cover up the scent of dust and rot.

She finds the princess pinned to a wall by Zhao; it is the man they had the altercation with on Crescent Island. The princess moves to burn him with one alit hand, but he grabs her face and presses it against the wall.

Katara acts quickly without thinking about how much easier her life will be if the royal family of tyrants tormenting her people loses a member. She tosses the water with all of her might, hoping that for once her waterbending will obey her instead of eluding her. She splashes him and then, with a forced twist of her fist, the water freezes, leaving Zhao immobile.

"A waterbender?" the princess inquires, her cavalier, confident tone completely gone. She looks terrified and Katara could not have imagined that expression on her face after their encounter with the Fire Sages. "It doesn't matter what you bend. Help me find my fiancée. You've shown up at a pretty bad time."

The princess does not question or interrogate Katara, and Katara is not even sure she recognizes her. But she runs as quickly as she can after the hurrying princess, deeper into the labyrinth of the palace. It occurs to Katara that this could be a trap. It _would _be like the Fire Nation to do something like that.

"Wait, uh, your highness," Katara stammers, gasping for breath. Even with all of the running away from soldiers in her life, she is getting winded in the dusty and dank hall.

"No time to wait, unless you'd be like me to hand you to my father. Rebel, check. Waterbender, check. Helping the Avatar, check..." And the Fire Nation in her comes out and burns brightly.

"Okay, okay. What are we looking for?" Katara asks, finally catching her breath.

"My fiancee and I tried to run away, but someone found out. My father knows and he's tearing up the palace looking for me. You managed to keep Zhao from turning me in. Good," the princess purrs and Katara supposes she will not be thanked. "If you want my help breaking the Avatar out of the prison he is in right now, you'll help me get Ty Lee."

"I just saw Aang a minute ago," Katara says in disbelief, although she knows Aang is missing.

"He just got arrested. You didn't make a very good effort of covering up the tattoos. Now _hurry_," the princess continues sharply, swinging down a hallway. Katara tries to follow her, racing on her toes to keep up.

They make it to a wing of the palace that Azula stops in front of. She hesitates, scanning it with her golden eyes. Katara crosses her arms and studies the princess closely, unnerved and uncertain if she should have followed her. But if this is true, and Azula wants to escape the Fire Nation, then Katara, Aang and Sokka could have a great ally.

"What is it?" Katara dares to ask.

"I don't know. I thought she was here," Azula says and Katara senses humanity in her. Humanity that does not translate from a two dimensional piece of propaganda. Her face is everywhere, but it is not the face that is glistening with sweat and twisted with concern. "We can cut through this wing, through the boarded up half, then make it to where they're holding the Avatar. If Ty Lee isn't there already, she's with my father, which is the worst case scenario. Then we can cut back through the archives and out the emergency exit in that library."

"I'm on board with your plan." _Even if it kills me. It isn't as if I have any better options_, Katara thinks to herself.

"Alright, let's go. Before Zhao melts," Azula says, grabbing Katara's wrist and running through the halls. They are met with resistance of the heavily armed security guards and Katara panics as she fumbles for her water-skin.

But Azula takes them out with spinning blue fire. "Speed up, Water Tribe," Azula purrs, almost teasingly, and Katara is utterly confused. And slightly aroused.

They keep running until they barge through the door into a holding cell. A holding cell in a palace? Katara hates the Fire Nation. She really, truly does.

"Aang!" Katara exclaims as she sees him shackled in so many directions bending would be impossible. He has an optimistic glint in his eyes that she loves.

"And there you are," Azula says with a small sigh, noticing Ty Lee trying to escape the bars. Azula grabs the keys off of the hook and unlatches the prison. "I was concerned I'd have to leave you here."

"You'd leave me here?" Ty Lee teases, although she knows she will get no response. "The Avatar is here, Azula."

"I see that. And he and his friends are─"

They are interrupted by the thud of a muscular body against a stone floor and the clattering of metal. Two guards shuffle in after tossing Sokka onto his face. He looks up at Katara, Aang, Azula and Ty Lee and wonders what's happening.

"Where's the gloomy one?" Sokka asks, searching for Mai. Ty Lee makes a sad expression that Katara barely catches.

"Release him," Azula orders and the guards slowly shake their heads. "Obey me! I am your princess and you will obey me!"

"We're under orders to lock you up too." One lunges for her and he is suddenly taken down, paralyzed and afraid, by a punch from the princess's fiancée. Aang takes care of the other one with a blast of air that pounds him against the wall and knocks him unconscious.

Katara seizes the keys from Azula and unlocks Sokka.

"We're leaving through the archives. You three will come if you know what's good for you," Azula orders and Sokka glances between Katara and Aang. Neither of them protest, so they run after the princess and her girl.

They meet a good deal of resistance on their way out, but the quintet make quick work of the highly trained soldiers. Finally, they reach the archives. Aang stops as Azula and Ty Lee are dashing through stacks of books and scrolls towards the door.

"Why aren't you running?" Azula snarls, turning around. Ty Lee is still clutching her hand.

"We came here to look in these archives," Sokka explains, as Aang and Katara are speechless. "Where's the section about Avatar Roku?"

"There isn't one. They were all burned after he died," Azula says sharply.

"Census data?" Sokka presses.

"What are you looking for?" Azula demands, her eyes burning.

"We need to find Avatar Roku's great granddaughter or something," Sokka snaps back and Azula pauses.

"The Dragonbone Catacombs have more detailed records. I'll take you there if you help me escape this palace," Azula says sharply and Sokka supposes he cannot argue, as much as he wants to.

They make their escape.

* * *

"Zuko, Mai," Ozai says, pacing in his office.

Zuko and Mai are seated uncomfortably on an antique sofa. They know that Azula and Ty Lee escaped the palace with the Avatar. They also know that this cannot be good news.

"I want you to go with Admiral Zhao to reclaim my daughter."

Mai's eyes light. Zuko does not know what to think.


	10. Chapter 10

Azula and Ty Lee lead Sokka, Katara and Aang to the Dragonbone Catacombs, although it is likely they are already being pursued. It feels dangerous and risky, and Azula would much, much prefer to be halfway out of Caldera by now.

But she has to admit she is curious why they need information on Avatar Roku. And, therefore, she guides them deep into the library, which is cold and comfortable despite the sweltering heat outside.

"It's empty..." Sokka remarks, thinking for a moment that it might be a trap.

He is not quite _trusting _of the princess, even if she has helped them twice at this point. The fact that he has heard stories about her conquering Ba Sing Se singlehandedly makes him think twice about trusting her, while Aang and Katara seem perfectly willing. And the other girl, well, she does not seem incredibly bright, so Sokka is not very worried about her.

"Everyone is celebrating my engagement," Azula replies, just realizing it herself. There was no one checking at the gates to remove food or drink and to confirm access to certain records.

It is deserted, and Azula is sincerely just hoping it is her luck and not something far more sinister.

"The section about Fire Avatars... is near the back, I think," Azula murmurs, more to herself than her newfound companions.

They scuttle through the bookshelves, all of them glancing around in paranoia. Any moment half of the army could burst in here to claim the Avatar and the Princess and Azula is wringing her hands as they reach a dingy, dusty area of the library that is... locked. _Damn_.

"I guess we should just leave then," Azula says, glancing at her newfound companions hopefully.

"Or..." the Avatar says with a small smile.

Azula recoils, along with the water peasants and her fiancée, as the Avatar inhales, pulls back, and with a motion of bending, blows the door directly off of its aged hinges. They walk inside as Sokka tries to prop the door back up and eventually decides it is not worth the effort.

"Let's split up the work," Katara says, looking around at the endless stacks of paper. She glances at Aang in hopes his Avatar spirit will pick up on something, but he looks as clueless as the rest of them.

Azula moves quickly to a section she recognizes the old Fire Nation characters on. If it is the last thing she does, she will find out the information first and decide what to do with it. She _needs _to be in control of the situation, and having the knowledge the Avatar and his friends so desperately crave will certainly help her.

_Born 82 BG, died 12 BG..._

Blacked out, a good portion of the scroll is blacked out by rough, dark ink, but Azula sees a code pointing her to the sequel scroll. She pretends to look baffled by the papers, as much as her companions, who are all complaining about different Avatars past, and Aang is spouting half remembered facts that seem to amuse the water girl.

She flies through that scroll, which, along with the next four, detail his training and list his trainers. Azula hesitates on their births and deaths... they all died within weeks of Roku's death...

_They all were killed by Sozin's men._

Azula brushes that unsettling fact aside to focus on the task at hand. Roku's family...

She finds it. A family tree, tucked in the back with a few other lineage records, of living relatives of Roku at the time of his death. All killed within twelve years of Roku's death. These are his brothers, his sisters ─

_His wife, noblewoman Ta Min, friend of Fire Lord Sozin, lived the remainder of her days on Ember Island after publicly denouncing her husband and never remarrying. With her children..._

Nepotism at its finest, Azula supposes. Having friends in the royal family gets you nice things... like a sixteen year old _wife_. She grits her teeth at the thought of Zhao and at the thought that he is probably after her right now.

_Her only living daughter, Rina..._

Boring facts, endless boring facts. Azula skims as Sokka throws a scroll at the wall, grumbling to himself. She finds the next code, and finds what the Avatar is looking for. And then a sudden wave of revulsion and panic that no one seems to notice.

She quietly tears off the page about her mother and shoves it into her pocket. Parts of it are blacked out, particularly the entire last half, but there might be a way to read it, and some of the words are salvageable.

_Salvageable enough for Azula to realize _she _is the person that the Avatar and his peasant friends are searching for._

"I'm going to check to make sure we won't followed. Ty Lee, take over my scrolls," Azula says, her eyes flashing at her fiancée. Ty Lee narrows her eyes and hides her shock when she opens them and the princess leaves.

Ty Lee swallows uncomfortably as she realizes they have _not _just made three new allies. Azula is still in the game for herself, which Ty Lee supposes she has every right to be. But why Azula just abandoned the scrolls on Roku, Ty Lee has no idea, until she sees the torn ridges of paper.

"Did you find anything?" Katara asks, her cobalt eyes sparkling as she looks Ty Lee up and down.

"Yeah, these ones are about Roku. But a lot of it is censored. There's nothing about his relatives," Ty Lee says and Aang frowns. "We can still take the scrolls. Maybe some of the stuff will help later. But right now we probably should be getting out of the city."

"I agree," Sokka says. He cannot believe the _Fire Nation _girls have better sense than his allies. They should have been spending this time escaping Caldera, not studying old, useless scrolls.

They leave the Dragonbone Catacombs through the back entrance and try to blend in with crowds until they reach the woods outside of the town.

* * *

"Azula," Ty Lee whispers as they walk, ducking through foliage as the Avatar leads them to their camp. "What did you find?"

"I'll tell you when we're alone," Azula whispers, glancing up at the water boy and how he never stops watching them, a sour expression on his face.

They finally come to a stop at a series of cliffs far down the coastline from the pier. Azula must admit they have an admirable hiding place, although it will quickly be overrun within the first two weeks of a search for Azula and Ty Lee.

"What is... _that_?" Azula gasps as soon as she sees Appa. He bellows warmly and she stumbles back, nearly tripping over a branch before Ty Lee catches her by the waist.

"He's Appa," Aang says cheerfully and Sokka grits his teeth at Aang being so kind to the enemy.

"Katara, tie them up," Sokka orders and Katara just squints at him. Azula cocks an eyebrow and grabs Ty Lee's wrist, ready to attack if this does not go as Azula anticipates it to. "What? You actually think we can just let the Fire Nation Princess walk around our camp all she wants?"

With a sigh, Katara rubs her lips together. "She had her chances to kill us or sell us out a _lot _of times. I'm not saying we shouldn't keep an eye on them... but they seem to want to help us. Remember Crescent Island? Or, in the palace, she could've just taken her girlfriend and left us in the prison."

Sokka takes a deep breath and turns to the two girls, brandishing a boomerang. _Yes _a boomerang against Azula's prodigious firebending and Ty Lee's exemplary military training. Azula almost finds it irresponsible _not _to murder him for his arrogance. But she slowly puts up her hands in surrender and Ty Lee hesitantly follows suit.

"My father is losing it. He's becoming paranoid and dangerous, and I was no longer safe. He would have killed me if I stayed any longer," Azula lies and they seem to be buying it, even the skeptical Sokka. "I need you three more than you three need me. And I'm not stupid. I won't risk my only chance of escaping my fate on loyalty to my nation."

Katara shrugs and looks to Sokka. "Give them a chance."

Sokka groans.

"I am _not _taking my eyes off of _either _of you until you give us a better reason to trust you than _not killing us_," Sokka says, jabbing one finger into the air pointedly. Azula inhales slowly. "You're going to help us get out of the Fire Nation, and then our friends in the Rebellion can decide what to do with you."

Azula looks him up and down and slowly nods. "I agree to your terms."

But soon, Azula muses, they will be agreeing to her terms.

* * *

Sokka wakes up unhappy. He does not even remember the fact that he is working with _firebenders _now, but he can already tell it is a bad morning by something prodding his side ferociously and the incessant sighing of his frustrated sister.

"Sokka," Katara says, kicking her brother with her toes. He snores, sputters, and wakes. "Go wake up Azula and Ty Lee."

He stares at her for a moment, squinting in the early sunlight. Their cobalt eyes lock as he finally soaks in what she is saying.

"Why do _I _have to wake them up?" Sokka asks, shifting into a sitting position while remaining in his sleeping bag.

"Because if they attack, you're strong enough to put them down," Katara says, crossing her arms.

Sokka holds his tongue about Aang being a masterful airbender and Katara being trained by the rebels too, and kicks off the sleeping bag. He is coated in sweat; the Fire Nation is far hotter than the Earth Kingdom. And he walks slowly over to the tent, half in hopes that the girls just left in the night.

He does not like the idea of working with the Fire Nation.

Not one bit.

_ Azula pushes her way through a crowd, unsure what she is looking for, but desperate to find it. She feels her heart racing, beating out of her chest. The people are a sea of red, and all of their faces are vaguely similar and strange. This square in Caldera has an odd, eerie look about it._

_ She makes it to the front of the crowd and looks in front of her. Then arms grab hers and she is pulled forward against her will and stood on a stage. It suddenly becomes clear to her that she is in the same place she gave her speech on the tour, the one that was interrupted by a riot._

_ But when she reaches the stage, she sees... herself... herself on it. She is beside Ty Lee and the Avatar, and they are all lined up. It is then that she realizes it is set for an execution._

_ "And for the crime of treason and consorting with the enemy..." declares Zuko's rasping voice._

_ Azula looks away before their bodies go up in acrid smoke._

Azula wakes from her nightmare, gasping for breath. Her arms are wrapped around Ty Lee, as they have been often of late. But her back is on hard ground and she can only smell mud and grass, and not the gentle incense of her bedroom.

It all comes back to her then, the escape from the palace, the Dragonbone Catacombs, the fact that she is officially traveling with the Avatar. That she is, for some inexplicable reason, on her way to the _North Pole_, under the impression that something so absurd could gain her a nation to herself.

"Uh, Princess..." stammers the not-Avatar-boy. He scratches his head awkwardly and looks at the two girls intertwined with each other. "And... other girl... it's time to go..."

Sokka does not know why Katara and Aang forced him to do this. He does not know why he is cooperating with the _Fire Nation _after spending his entire life trying to stop them. Sure, maybe this Fire Princess and her girlfriend were under duress, as Katara insists, and _yeah_, okay, some dead Avatar ghost said they needed to take the princess with them, but Sokka still does not approve.

And he finds himself mildly flustered when he walks into the tent and finds... this. It is... uncomfortable... Katara would probably have less of an issue walking in on two girls sleeping in their underwear, all tangled together at the limbs... He hopes his face is not as red and as the heat on his cheeks makes it feel.

"Where are we going?" the princess demands, sitting up slowly. She narrows her golden eyes at this boy and watches him squirm. Ty Lee is still sleeping, snoring very faintly and delicately, like a baby saber toothed moose lion. "You do realize that the entire military will be looking for us, and your dear Avatar friend decided to show off his airbending in a crowded city street. Now you expect us to somehow get out of this cornered position?"

Sokka opens and closes his mouth. "I've gotten out of tighter spots before."

"Oh, yes, you've evidently spent a good deal of time in the Fire Nation, surrounded by soldiers and constant surveillance. I can tell by how you marched right into the palace with zero tact and expected to walk out with military secrets," she purrs as her companion starts to wake. The princess stands up and reaches for her clothes, getting dressed as Sokka is still trying to think of a rebuttal. "_Fortunately_ for you three, I happen to know my way around this country, and have contemplated running away from home enough times to have a good plan."

Sokka decides to leave it. As much as he hates the idea of letting this slippery dolphin piranha of a Fire Princess order he and his friends around, he has to admit he is out of his element here. Give him the Earth Kingdom as his battleground, and you will see the reason he was promoted in the rebellion despite his youth. But the Fire Nation is different than the simulations and maps told him it would be.

Azula finds the water girl packing bags and the Avatar pretending to help her. She actually thinks the airbender _would _help her, if she did not keep brushing him away and grumbling for him to give her space.

"I never got either of your names," Azula says smoothly, although she might have. People know better than to correct her, so she feels comfortable saying what she pleases.

But she thought wrong, when the water girl says sharply, "_Yes_, yes you did. Multiple times. I'm Katara, this is Aang, my grouchy older brother is Sokka."

Azula bites down on her tongue and suppresses her desire to slit the girl's throat or burn her. Playing games of manipulation and war is not always fun, but Azula _will _do it. She _must _get the Fire Nation, and if that means being cozy with these inbred stains on the fabric of Azula's future empire, she will, so help her.

Ty Lee had an excellent point when she said to play on everyone's side.

"Please, accept my apology," Azula sighs, tensing her muscles to keep from rolling her eyes. "And..." _this part pains her the most_. "Thank you for helping me escape my situation. And letting me sleep here when I very well could have just been waiting to kill you both and capture the Ava─_Aang_."

This is harder than Azula thought it would be, but she _will _do it.

"Alright, that's settled. You're going to help us get out of the Fire Nation?" Katara demands, cobalt eyes looking Azula up and down. The princess inhales slowly, breathing in the sun and remaining calm. This is as much her element as fire; she is behind enemy lines, letting her silver tongue get her what she wants.

"Of course. Believe me, I want out of here more than you do," Azula says, lying by omission but not _outright _lying. It is true that she has no desire to be in the crumbling palace as her father continues losing his mind and gaining more paranoia.

Katara picks at her lips. She is struggling to trust Azula and Ty Lee as much as Sokka, particularly with all of the things she has heard about the princess while with the rebels. But only _actions _matter, and Azula's actions have seemed to be in Katara, Aang and Sokka's best interest.

And so Katara decides to ask, "Why does your father want to kill you?"

"He thinks I intend to steal his throne," Azula replies, now lying genuinely. "My brother is older than me, and he was always the favorite for the throne. I was an unnecessary risk. He tried to marry me off to keep me from being a threat, but I didn't take it lying down. You see, I love her, and I didn't want to be wed to anyone but her."

Katara likes that notion, as much as she knows it is foolish. But everyone is a sucker for a good love story, and it _does _well explain the princess's irrational actions in running from the palace and helping three strangers.

"I'm not... sympathetic to the Fire Nation, but I won't turn my back on two people who need help," Katara says earnestly. "You seem trustworthy."

Azula cannot believe how easy this is. It is almost funny how gullible these people are, particularly when they have spent their entire lives being cheated by the Fire Nation.

"I know a good way up the coastline to a less patrolled location. Ty Lee and I will lead you there," Azula says, glancing at her fiancée... _flirting _with Sokka. Dear Agni, only one thing can ruin Azula at this point ─ and it is her only ally.

"Alright," Katara agrees hesitantly.

She supposes the situation is unfortunate. Katara, Sokka and Aang are entirely relying on Azula and Ty Lee, but Azula and Ty Lee are relying on them as well. The only way they escape the wicked plans of the Fire Nation is together, but that does not mean it will be easy to trust mortal enemies.

Katara just sighs as Aang looks to her and smiles hopefully.

* * *

Ty Lee and Azula slip into the woods as they take a break on their way up the coast. Sokka and Katara are locked in a vicious argument, and it reminds Azula of she and Zuko. For a moment she wonders if her brother is okay after her escape. She thinks she _hopes _he is okay, which is a disconcerting thought.

"What did you find?" Ty Lee asks, touching Azula's face. The princess does not reject the motion; she supposes the lover charade must continue to make Katara and Sokka think that they are so in love that they are willing to betray the Fire Nation.

Azula unfolds the scroll that she shoved into her bra. "Most of it is censored. But it's pretty clear."

"That's... that's your _mother_," Ty Lee whispers, pointing at the slender characters.

"They're looking for me," Azula whispers, stepping close to Ty Lee. "Why no one informed me of this, I have no idea. But it looks like we have a leg up in this little group."

Ty Lee smirks, unable to suppress it.

"What are you two doing?" comes the voice of Sokka and Ty Lee presses Azula against a tree, the princess barely able to stifle her sound of surprise.

A hand shoots into Azula's shirt and her golden eyes are wide with surprise, and then she is uncomfortably hot with the touch as Ty Lee tucks the paper detailing Ursa's family history into Azula's shirt. Her mouth presses against Azula's as the princess tries to ignore the sudden state of her nipples.

"Oh, uh..." Sokka rubs his neck as Ty Lee slowly pulls away from Azula, touching her lips.

"Sorry," Ty Lee says, batting her eyelashes. Azula steps away from the tree, stunned at the abrupt strategic move of her fake lover.

"We're just... uh... leaving." Sokka turns away and flees.

Azula looks in both admiration and fear at her companion in conquest.

Ty Lee winks at her and they return to Katara, Sokka and Aang.


	11. Chapter 11

The fire crackles in the night as Sokka taps his boomerang on his knee as if it is threatening, and Katara keeps glancing at the woods. Aang is picking at his lips, his eyes narrowed on Azula. She finally has enough of the awkward silence and staring at her and clears her throat. Sokka nearly throws the boomerang before catching himself, Katara gasps in shock and Aang remains unfazed.

"I can tell you're all waiting for me to double cross you," Azula purrs as Ty Lee slips her hand behind Azula's back and holds her. They might have to make a swift escape and Ty Lee is prepared for it. "I do not intend to. I have not intended to from the moment we were thrown together, and you can all relax."

Sokka scoffs. "Yeah... I can't imagine that happening any time soon. _Relaxing_..."

He gets up before Azula can question him, and walks to unroll his sleeping bag. Aang just stares at Azula. The silence is yet again incredibly uncomfortable.

"So... could you make this fire blue if you wanted to?" he asks and Katara smiles faintly at his naivety.

Azula smiles faintly at the younger boy. "Mhm. Do you want me to?"

"Yeah," Aang admits, rubbing his neck and blushing faintly.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Azula seizes control of the fire, using her hand although she has no need to, it is mostly for show. Aang watches, enraptured, and Katara has to admit she finds it interesting too. Finally, Azula pulls away and the fire dies down to a warm orange.

"I'm going to get the tents set up. It looks like it's going to rain," Katara remarks, and Aang cautiously follows her, leaving Azula startled she and Ty Lee are nearly alone.

They look at each other for a moment, both with their thoughts on the piece of parchment tucked into Azula's bra, and the fact that Zhao is probably right behind them. Other people are aware of this coast, this beach and Azula thinks the odds are not in her favor, even with the Avatar and his friends to support her in a fight.

_Not that they seem to be very accomplished fighters..._

Azula leans in close to Ty Lee, not intending to be romantic, yet she does find that she enjoys the feeling of closeness as their bodies press against each other. Ty Lee strokes Azula's neck, telling herself that it is just to keep up the illusion, but it sends electricity through her fingers.

"I'm going to take you to the end," Azula breathes into Ty Lee's ear, her warm breath making Ty Lee inhale sharply. "These people are a joke. You will be my Fire Lady, and we will have it all."

Ty Lee closes her eyes and leans against Azula. She quite likes that idea, of ruling an empire at the side of this girl. This horrible girl, who is cruel and vindictive, shallow and selfish. Yet Ty Lee loves her.

Testing the waters, Ty Lee touches her lips against Azula's. The princess's eyes flicker in surprise for a moment, as if they have never kissed before. And Ty Lee is reminded that, to Azula, this is a facade.

"What was that?" Azula breathes, looking at Ty Lee.

"We're supposed to be in love. We better kiss pretty frequently," Ty Lee says with a small smile and Azula laughs faintly. "Do you really think this is going to work? I mean, are there really going to be a lot of people who want to put a traitor onto the throne?"

Azula looks Ty Lee up and down, now significantly less aroused.

"I won't be a traitor. I will be the brilliant princess who went behind enemy lines and returned with the Avatar, and among the chaos of the Civil War, reluctantly agreed to be Fire Lord," Azula purrs, patting Ty Lee's back and walking away.

Ty Lee rolls her eyes and gazes into the fire, the ash stinging her eyes.

* * *

Mai sits as Zhao pours her a glass of rice wine, trying not to think too hard about this. Zuko waits for his and Zhao just sets the bottle in front of him without even making eye contact. Mai tries not to snicker as the disgraced prince pours his own drink while gritting his teeth.

"You, Mai," Zhao says, sitting down and clasping his hands. "You know the princess and her... whatever that girl is. I imagine you know what she could've wanted in the Dragonbone Catacombs."

Squinting, Mai swirls around her drink and stares into it. "Actually, no," she admits and Zhao's eyebrow twitches in frustration. "But I _do _know that there's only one way for Azula and her new rebel friends to get out of the Fire Nation without immediately being tackled by the whole navy."

"You think she's leaving the Fire Nation?" Admiral Zhao looks doubtful, examining Mai and wondering if perhaps she is just trying to mislead him.

"She would be stupid to stay," Mai remarks and Zhao leans back, still staring at her as if his scrutinizing gaze will make her straightforward. "I know them both. And I want to bring them down."

"Why?" Zhao inquires and Mai thinks she has now reached the heart of the matter.

"Because I'm not a traitor; do I need another reason?" She looks at him very intently, staring him down. He is the first to avert his eyes and Mai's eyes glitter for a brief moment. "We need a ship, and we need some weapons, and also a little intel on this Avatar, because I do not want to face an Avatar with nothing but my boots and a couple of these _dinner knives_."

Mai stands up and Zhao is left looking somewhat baffled. He thinks he might have just lost his control over this project to a sixteen year old girl. His eyes coast over Zuko yet again, and finally rest of him.

"And why are you with us?" Zhao inquires, studying him closely. "I find it hard to believe your father would trust you with something so important."

Zuko does not hesitate before replying, "I find it hard to believe that my father would trust a man who gets repeatedly owned by adolescent girls."

Zhao seizes the bottle of alcohol and throws it directly into the fire, making it surge for a moment before dying down. It brings him no pleasure, and he leaves the room, putting the thought to bring Zuko down with his sister in the back of his mind.

They both pose nothing but a threat to his claiming of the Fire Nation. There are many people making moves as Civil War brews and Fire Lord Ozai descends into paranoia. And Zhao was supposed to coast nicely into the top running with his bride and his military prowess.

And _now this_. It has to be some cruel joke by the spirits, at this point.

Zuko stares at the fire, still stunned, sipping his drink and finding it to taste rather unappealing. Too strong. Someone slips back into the room and he is relieved to see that it is Mai.

"Why _are_ you so against Azula?" Zuko asks, staring at her.

"I'm not. Not at all," Mai says, shrugging. "She's my best friend. _But _I've been thinking, Zuko, about how, if it weren't for your father's decision to scar you and throw you out... you are the rightful heir to the throne."

Zuko rolls his eyes. "It's had Azula's name on it since she was three."

"Not quite. You aren't really stupid enough to just sit back and let the tiles fall where they want to. Azula left with the Avatar not because she's a traitor... Azula made this play with Ty Lee not because she's so madly in love. You know what that is?"

"Being sixteen and female?" Zuko asks and Mai rolls her eyes.

"Ignoring that sexism," Mai sighs, leaning close to Zuko. He does not quite like the wicked gleam in her amber eyes, the firelight reflected in them, "it's a cover. Azula is using her madly in love facade to cover up the fact that she's planning a major play for the throne. So is Zhao. So are a lot of people. Why aren't you?"

Zuko scratches his lip. "I..." and he shrugs.

"Has your uncle rubbed all his laziness off onto you?" Mai asks and Zuko opens his mouth to defend his uncle, but then he closes it. "We're going to get in on this game. I mean, you have more claim to the throne than Zhao or the _rebels_."

"I would rather not die or get the rest of my face burned off."

"So you want to commit political suicide because when you were thirteen you fucked up?" Mai asks and Zuko just shrugs.

"Look, Mai, I got lucky enough to be allowed to come home without capturing the Avatar. I think I'm going to quit while I'm ahead," Zuko says and Mai sighs in utter frustration.

"I'm going to ignore the defeatist, wimpy, boy with the self-fulfilling prophecy about being a failure because his daddy didn't love him enough and remind you of the important part of what you just said. _Capture the Avatar_."

And with that, Mai stands up and leaves Zuko to mull it over.

So help her, he will not say no. She knows an awful lot about politics after being used as her parents' pawn, tile and keychain, and it is her turn to reach the top.

She will win.

* * *

"I can almost feel Zhao tracking us," Azula murmurs as she leads the Avatar and his friends through the underbrush. "He's probably so _smug _about it too..."

They are still very far away from the only exit point of Caldera, and Azula is clinging tightly to Ty Lee as she keeps her eye out for anyone who could be trailing them. It is absurd that the crown princess could just sneak away with the _Avatar_.

If she is caught, yes, father will buy the excuse of her being so madly in love that she acted irrationally. He will scold her and penalize her, but she will not face accusations of treason, she is certain. But the punishment is not what she fears; it is her plan failing that she is afraid of.

"What's this?" Sokka demands, glaring at their Fire Nation guests.

"A tunnel," Azula replies, cocking an eyebrow. Appa makes a sound of discontent that startles Sokka and Katara as well as Azula and Ty Lee.

Aang scratches his neck. "Appa really hates tunnels."

_Agni_, Azula curses internally.

"You cannot fly that thing over the Fire Nation. Our Eastern Coast is the most watched border in the history of the entire world, even more than the walls of Ba Sing Se or the Northern Water Tribe," Azula says coldly, reciting the facts with a spark in her eyes. "Appa, will have to tolerate a tunnel."

Aang looks disconcerted about Azula for the first time since he met her. He trusted her much more than Sokka and Katara, because he once had friends in the Fire Nation, and even though he is still angry about the atrocities he saw at the Southern Air Temple, he thinks that there are good people and bad people everywhere in the world.

"It'll be okay," Katara says, squeezing Aang's hand.

"_Yes_," Sokka says loudly and Azula rolls her eyes. "We go into the dark tunnel that can only be lit by her firebending, and _bam_, they smash our heads in before we even know, and take Aang to the Fire Lord."

He exaggerates his movements as he mimes the actions, making Ty Lee cringe.

"Listen, Admiral Zhao is behind us. Through that tunnel, is our way to wherever you want to take me and Ty Lee. Take us to your rebels or wherever you want. Drop us in the ocean. But I'm going to go out fighting and not be killed by my own nation for treason," Azula says, putting a hint of forced fear into her tone to sell it.

Sokka clenches his jaw, hating that he believes her. "Alright, into the creepy tunnel. But you two stay in front of us the _whole time_."

* * *

Mai is examining the armory in the ship they have procured for the trip along the coast to where Azula will try to make her departure. Assuming they are on foot, she, Zuko, Zhao and their soldiers should get there before the Avatar and the rogue princess arrive.

Zuko knocks on the door as Mai is touching her finger to the blade of a throwing star.

"You don't have to knock. You're royalty," Mai says dryly, and Zuko can tell her choice of words is trying to sway him towards her plan for conquest.

He does find it a bit hot, admittedly. _But _he also is not stupid, and knows that he is so far out of the Fire Nation's favor that it would take a miracle for him to last on the throne. That Agni Kai did not just seal his fate with his father; it also painted him as everything the Fire Nation despises.

"I don't see..." Zuko murmurs and Mai cocks an eyebrow. "I don't see what you expect me to do."

Mai examines the blade, caressing it with her fingers. Her perfect fingers that Zuko wants to imagine running across his body. Because he has loved her, he has loved her before he knew her. And she, well, she knows that she was born for him.

"You wanted the throne once. And now's your chance to take it," Mai says dryly, setting down the blade and turning to walk to the disgraced prince. "I hate a lot of things. And I mostly think everything anybody tries to do is pretty pointless. So when I say that I don't hate you, and when I say that I think we should put actual effort into something, I mean it. I mean that we should take the country."

Mai brushes her lips against Zuko's, barely pressing before slipping away. Her hips touch his and his hands slide down her waist, over her body and rest there, holding her core against him. She licks her lips and examines him closely.

"The thing about exile, though, is that you're not dead. And people who try to take the throne but don't get it..." Zuko says and Mai finds it repulsive. She grits her teeth and starts to slip away from him.

He then, suddenly recalls the fierce Zuko he once was, before his father beat it out of him, grabs her and pulls her to him, forcing his lips against hers. _There_.

"Azula will win the hearts of loyalists. _You _will win the people who are suffering. You'll tell them about what you had to do in the Earth Kingdom, in your banishment. That you've suffered just the way that they did. There's no risk if you have half of a Civil War looking to you to lead them," Mai breathes, her hot breath tickling his neck, surges of arousal.

"You're smart in a terrifying way," Zuko remarks with a small chuckle. "I don't think I can win against Azula."

"Leave that to me," Mai whispers and for a moment, Zuko is certain she is still firmly behind Azula, and is now tricking him into getting murdered and brushed aside so Azula can be Fire Lord.

But then her thigh rests between his legs and she presses him to the wall.

Zuko will not deny her.

* * *

AN: I admittedly have always wanted to write Mai as a bit more cutthroat (pun completely intended). In fact, I've kind of enjoyed writing everyone with their darkest, most conniving side out (Ty Lee, particularly), because they all have it in them. I hope they remained IC, through this, but Mai is tough, and she's smart. Passive, yes, but also willing to get what she wants.


	12. Chapter 12

Wrathful. That would be Zhao right now. Absolutely, abhorrently wrathful. He had everyone on the ship woken for no better reason than something of his having gone a little... missing.

Mai is beside Zuko, half dressed, and with her nails dug into the inside of her boyfriend's wrist to keep control over him and to make sure her plans do not go wrong before they even begin. She clutches him tightly and Zhao seems to think it is about love.

_Because Zhao is absolutely no match for Mai, and he will be even less of a match for Azula and an Avatar. And Mai will quite enjoy being Fire Lady after this bullshit is all over, at last._

"I'm well aware that there's cutthroat competition going on right now. With the Avatar and Princess Azula up for grabs as some sort of... _salvage_," Zhao lectures as Mai looks as bored as she can without being outwardly disinterested. "However, I'm sure it's in our best interest to work together against such powerful foes. The Avatar has evaded capture for a century; Princess Azula defeated Ba Sing Se singlehandedly during Sozin's Comet."

"What is it that was stolen from you anyway?" Zuko asks and Mai clenches her jaw.

"Funny that you should ask, Prince Zuko," Zhao says and it is immediately apparent that he thinks Zuko is the one who did it. "My private correspondence with Fire Lord Ozai."

Zuko has to force himself not to look at Mai. If she did that... That's treason; albeit slight treason.

The rest of the tirade, Zuko cannot listen to, because his heart is pounding too fiercely.

He used to be excited about one day inheriting the nation. But after the war meeting, after his father's sick brand of mercy and false forgiveness when he brought him home after the war was won only to be locked up from shame...

Zuko is jaded and does not want to risk what little he has to play this game of thrones.

* * *

Sokka watches nervously, trying to keep a careful eye on the two Fire Nation girls they are helping. They have entered the cave and Azula has the only guiding light in the palm of her hand. At any moment, she could make it burn out, and they would all be royally screwed (literally).

"It's not a long tunnel," Azula says and Sokka narrows his eyes. "I've been through it twice and you all can trust me."

Ty Lee breathes in sharply and hides her snicker as a sniffle and cough. Trusting Azula is one of the most laughable things she has ever heard. But she is not going to blow their cover, of course.

They make their way through the tunnel in almost absolute silence. Azula lights their way and Katara is somewhat transfixed by the eerie blue glow that still leaves shadows remaining. This is like nothing she has experienced before, and Appa looks unhappy as Aang pets him and tries to keep him calm.

Of course an airbender and his familiar would hate being underground like this. The slick rocks, stalactites and stalagmites all feel like traps nature has set to catch the guilty companions trying to flee the dominant nation.

Trying to flee what Azula would have once called justice.

"This section is a little more hazardous," Azula says as they reach the more unstable part of the tunnels. Aang situates his feet to remain light on them in case. "Just... watch your step."

"You never told us how you _know _about this tunnel, anyway," Sokka says as he speeds up to walk beside Azula. "I don't like the way you withhold information. Lying by omission is still lying."

"I'm not lying by omission. I'm simply not immediately trusting everyone around me with everything. I am absolutely certain, then, that you've told me everything about your lives and where you're going and your childhood?"

Sokka chews on his lip for a moment. "I'll give you that," he admits reluctantly. "I want to trust you two, I really do, even if you are Fire Nation. You're not making that very easy."

"Trust is for fools. It will only get you killed," Azula replies airily, as if stating such common fact.

Sokka grumbles something in disagreement before saying, "But I'm... _asking _how you know about this tunnel."

"Attempts to run away," Azula says earnestly, glad that it supplements her persona as a dissenter against her nation turning to the Avatar for aid.

"Why? You must have _everything_ and─" Sokka is cut off by a scream as Azula spins wildly around, flames dancing and the light stinging everyone's eyes and leaving them disoriented.

"Ty Lee!" Azula shouts and the panic in her tone is genuine without her bothering to falsify. She looks around frantically and then sees the Water Tribe boy tossing himself over the side of a pit. Katara runs and Aang barely catches her as the ground starts to crack beneath her feet as well.

"Sokka!" Katara gasps breathlessly.

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Sokka shouts between coughs. He is holding the Fire Nation girl by the arm, helping her up and pushing her above him onto the surface before scrambling up the side of the small cliff as quickly as he can.

Ty Lee chokes and gasps as she sits, staring at the ground around her. And then her wide eyes fall on the boy who just saved her. Azula kneels and the light dies for a moment as she helps Ty Lee to her feet.

When the tunnel is illuminated again, Ty Lee sees that Sokka bit his lip badly climbing down to save her, and Katara is examining him.

"Trust us now?" Sokka asks as Ty Lee gazes after him. "Yeah, _trust is definitely getting people killed_."

Azula waves for everyone to flee this chamber as quickly as possible, and they must keep up if they want to be able to see. She does not like being proven wrong, and she does not _think _she was proven wrong. Rescuing Ty Lee was only to gain points with her, and had nothing to do with trust or companionship.

"That was noble, I guess," Azula says, trying to dismiss his actions as petty chivalry before her trustworthiness is questioned again, and Ty Lee is still stunned, her heart palpitating, the memory of his muscular hands around her ingrained, burned into her.

"You guess? I just nearly died to save a Fire Nation person. Never thought I'd see the day," Sokka says, wiping his lip on his sleeve and streaking his face with dirt. "There's my point. We're relying on each other right now whether there's trust or not. Hiding things..."

"Isn't worth it," Ty Lee whispers and Azula glares at her.

It feels like betrayal, although she is sure that Ty Lee's head is just spinning from the adrenaline of nearly dying.

* * *

Azula is relatively breathless. She has seen Ty Lee naked many, many times. Azula invited her into her bed that night, even if she never invited her into her heart. But right now there is something utterly and inexplicably beautiful about her tan, bare body, caressed with water and dressed in nothing but seasons and beauty.

They escaped the tunnel and are close to their escape, but they stopped to eat, bathe and prepare for what likely will be a battle despite it being the safest route out of the Fire Nation. Azula was walking to the crystalline pond to wash her face when she came upon Ty Lee perfectly naked in the water.

There is something different about her in the gleaming sunlight instead of the dim, flickering candlelight and sticky sweat of Azula's bed.

"Well, hi, princess," Ty Lee says brightly and Azula suddenly realizes that she will need to respond as well.

"Hello," Azula replies feebly, feeling utterly ridiculous. She cannot be rendered nearly speechless by the sight of a nearly naked body. She is _Princess Azula._

"The water is really nice. Do you want to come in?" Ty Lee says, batting her eyelashes. They drip slightly and Azula cannot help but notice.

"It couldn't," Azula says before clearing her throat, "hurt, I suppose."

Trying to be detached is slightly difficult, but she walks to the water, stripping down to her underclothes. Perhaps she should be naked, perhaps she would like to see if Ty Lee would become just as stunned and speechless, but she does not.

It is quite nice, Azula must say. The cold water is against their skin as Azula wonders if she should voice her blossoming feelings. Ty Lee's lips grazes hers and she decides against it.

No, no. The feelings are likely not real. It's most certainly adrenaline and the constant pretending to be in love for the public.

Azula does not love.

But she does love this.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the steel warship commanded by Zhao, the heads of the mission are sitting around a table.

"I actually have a gameplan, you see," Mai says and Zhao clenches his jaw before nodding for her to continue. The glance Mai shoots Zuko makes him slightly anxious; she still intends for him to snatch up the crown.

They are waiting at the neck of the land that Azula, Ty Lee and their new friends will _have _to leave from if they're intending on leaving the Fire Nation unscathed. The peppering of islands off the shore makes for good hiding places, yet it's barely patrolled because of its remoteness and lack of military use or docks.

It is only a matter of time before they surface, and Mai will have them. She does care about Azula and Ty Lee, if she were to admit caring about anything. They are, and probably always will be, her best friends.

"And what exactly is your _gameplan_?" Zhao inquires, cocking an eyebrow. He already looks so unimpressed.

"We lose."

"What?" Zhao demands, stunned.

"We _lose _and then we follow them," Mai says and everyone looks at her, confused. "Why don't we out Azula Azula? Tricks aren't as low as you think they are. We let them think they've won, let them get comfortable, and they'll lead us to more than just the Avatar and princess."

Zhao squints at her, hating how much he likes that idea. He does have anything he desires on demand, and therefore a trip pursuing the Avatar should not be so hard. Zuko, however, rubs his temples, having a severe case of déjà vu.

Being sent to capture the Avatar, told it will restore his honor. Now he is told it will restore his birthright, and Zuko is far more skeptical now that he is reaching adulthood.

"Let's give them a show to remember," Mai continues and Admiral Zhao is loath to admit he likes the way she thinks.

In a world where war still raged, she could have been a great military elite. Politics would suit her, he thinks, but he does not know if she would want to go into them given her slippery father whom Zhao has had the utter displeasure of meeting more than once.

An hour later, they are prepared as they see their prey at last emerging.

_Perfect._

* * *

The group finally reaches the ledge that will give them a vantage point, and hopefully room for Appa to take off. And then suddenly, the ground shakes. They have not been struck, but their attention has been purposefully drawn to a ship. A warship. Waiting for them. _Waiting for them._

"That's Zhao," Ty Lee shrieks, tugging on Azula's arm as they stand on the cliff. Azula grabs Aang, making Sokka wield his boomerang, and she pulls him behind a tree, away from the ledge.

"It _is _Zhao," Azula says, pinning Aang in place for a moment. "And you three morons just let them get a perfect sight on you if they wanted to fire and kill you, or break the cliff... The world needs you _alive_, Avatar."

Aang nods. "I do really like being alive."

"What do we do?" Katara inquires, glancing between the Fire Nation girls. They both suddenly look ashen. Azula knew Zhao would pursue them, but she did not anticipate an expensive military ship with high grade weapons to be waiting for her in this remote inlet.

"I'm open to suggestions," Azula admits, although she does not think she is in particularly intelligent company.

"I happen to have a plan, as usual," Sokka says.

"Is it a good one?" Katara replies with a small, scathing laugh. Sokka glowers at her and she just shrugs.

* * *

"Appa, serpentine!" Sokka screams at the sky bison as the dodge projectile cannons. This is beginning to become a _normal _thing for the warrior and he has no idea why he is tolerating this.

This is possibly the worst plan _ever_. Sokka's original plan was far better, but then Zhao immediately thwarted it by _setting the forest on fire_ with a canon. And so, Appa was the only escape, and now Sokka is trying to control him desperately.

"He doesn't know what that ─ _AAAAHH _─ _means_!" Katara snaps, her eyes bulging with terror, although Appa _is _pulling off a decent serpentine evasion.

"We have to fight them," Azula declares and everyone looks at her like she is insane. "Just a little. They're going to keep following us, you realize?"

"It's you they want, though," Ty Lee says, grabbing Azula's arm.

"I have a new plan," Sokka says, his cobalt eyes sparked by Ty Lee's statement. "Why don't we just give them the Fire Nation Princess?"

"That's a horrible plan, Sokka," Katara says with a shocking amount of vehemence on her voice. "I─"

Katara is cut off by silent gasping as everyone clinging to the sky bison is suddenly taught the sensation of freefalling through the air. Appa groans as he pulls to the side too hard in his evasive motions, and they are all crashing, crashing, crashing to the nearest island.

Aang grabs the air around them, trying to control the plummet.

Azula blacks out once she slips off of Appa's thick white fur, Ty Lee screaming as she reaches for her. Ty Lee starts falling as they are crashing towards the turquoise ocean, and Sokka grabs her by the waist as she seizes Azula's wrist and holds onto her.

Ty Lee looks over her shoulder at Sokka, breathless.

And then they plummet uncontrollably.

* * *

"Mmmgrrr," escapes Azula's lips as she opens her eyes slowly. She is beneath trees and she can see the sunlight poking through the leaves, shining on her.

"You're awake." And lips collide with hers before she can say anything. "I was so scared."

"Zhao ─ did they follow us?" Azula demands, sitting straight up and wincing at the pain in her back.

"No. They retreated after we fell and we ran into the forest," Ty Lee explains, caressing the side of Azula's face. "But I really doubt we've seen the last of them."

Azula can only slowly shake her head.

_Some plan_.

* * *

It is the first night after their clash with Zhao, Mai and Zuko. Azula sits with Aang as Ty Lee is off somewhere with that water peasant boy. The Avatar is watching how Azula watches the fire, and how it is so different from how Katara watches the fire.

Katara gazes at it with pain and reluctance, while Azula looks blissfully lost in the crackling flames. They are similar, in some ways, Aang notices, but very different in others.

"You miss your people, I bet," Azula says out of nowhere and Aang is startled. There may not be _empathy _in her words, but there is _compassion_, and that is not something Aang believed Azula to be capable of.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Aang says quietly and Azula just slowly shakes her head.

"My people think I'm a traitor," and Azula does not know if she is lying for sympathy and manipulation, or if the realization has genuinely sunk in after her altercation. "I don't..."

Aang touches her hand and she has to stop herself from burning him alive. She just looks at him.

"Your people will understand," Aang says and Azula wants desperately to believe him. They will probably not understand, but they will _submit _when Azula returns to reign. "I mean, I think it's brave, doing all this because you think it's right."

"Bravery and stupidity are one in the same," Azula replies and Aang frowns faintly for a moment. "It's only hindsight that determines which one it really was."

Aang stares at the fire. Azula watches him in utter silence as Ty Lee reappears with water and a grin on her face as the water peasant makes some terrible joke. And Azula can only feel venom in her mouth, sinking into her.

This might have been her worst mistake, and she genuinely thought it was her most brilliant plan.

Perhaps she should have just handed Aang to Zhao and returned home a simple hero.

She is... unsure what to make of the complex burning sensations inside of her, but she does not like them at all.

* * *

The next morning, Azula, Ty Lee and the Avatar crew fly on Appa, hiding behind cloud cover that Aang shapes with his airbending. Azula is quite impressed at his prodigious level, and airbending deeply intrigues her. It is a shame that they were all killed.

Azula is glad for the war. It gave her all she loves, and it was righteous. But Sozin made foolish mistakes. As did Azulon. As did Ozai. Azula will not follow in their footsteps when she has the crown on her head.

After the rocky flight, they are at last amongst the islands, and have left Appa and settled in the deepest hiding place they could find. The brush with Zhao, Mai and Zuko was not something Azula particularly enjoyed and now she is trying to figure out her next step.

At least she _would be _if she were not constantly looking up to see Ty Lee flirting with Sokka. It should not _pain _Azula as much as it does.

Ty Lee is blushing as Sokka is flirting with her and it makes Azula want to burn... everything. Not one particular thing... _everything_. The whole world lit ablaze, burning and burning and burning until only ashes remain.

_'It isn't really love' _is the thought that is recurrent in Azula's mind. She told Ty Lee repeatedly that it was not love, but that does not stop Azula from _feeling _this horrible way.

"Thank you for getting us past those guys," Katara says, tapping Azula's shoulder. "Is he? Ugh. Sokka..."

"Sokka...?" Azula asks, studying Katara closely. Katara still does not particularly like Azula's golden eyes and how they seem to peel apart whatever they look at.

"Sokka thinks he's a ladies' man. He's only had two girlfriends and they weren't even... I'll talk to him," Katara says, trying not to roll her eyes. Of course Sokka is trying to hit on an _engaged _girl. "He's a nice guy. He's just... a little less than tactful sometimes."

"No, no, I don't mind. It isn't as if it's anything serious. I'm not threatened by... _him_," Azula says quietly, trying her best to keep all of the virulent hatred she is feeling towards the boy that Ty Lee is clearly falling for out of her silky voice.

But still, she watches Ty Lee and feels twisting in her stomach and burning in her throat.


	13. Chapter 13

_**AN: **__Hi, everyone, I want to thank you for your patience, because this story has been so slow at updating, but I'm going to try to get it on track, and this summer I have nothing going on in my life, so hopefully I can catch up then. I'm also writing to say I have secured the best beta in the Tyzula fandom, FanfictionVillainess, (yay!) and I'm hoping she'll help me with the process and I can get better chapters out more quickly. This is also the longest chapter length-wise so far by over a thousand words, and I'm planning on maintaining this length from here on out (unless a chapter really, really does need to be a bit shorter).  
_

* * *

Mai slinks through the warship as quietly as she can. She made an excuse to the night patrol that she was going to the armory to train and clear her head, but she quickly passes the door leading to her target practice and continues towards the less furnished and decorated cabins.

Because Ozai can't let his son get _too _comfortable, can he?

She has the excuse prepared that she will be attempting to sleep with him, which should not be that hard to pass off. People have a generally low opinion of her relationship with Zuko. Her mother cried hysterically when she found out that Mai's engagement was not to be broken or... _upgraded_. Mai does actually like the freedom of being the fiancee of the Fire Nation's dishonorable and unwanted prince. There is a good deal of freedom that comes along with it, and she has never cared about her reputation.

Once she arrives inside, she sees that Zuko is sleeping. How he can manage during this tense time, Mai has no idea.

"Zuko," she hisses as she shuts the door and sits down beside him. "Zuko. Zuko."

She pokes him with the tip of her sharp nail and he leaps up, gasping for breath and lunging out with a blast of fire.

"Don't _do that_," Zuko breathes before leaning back against the wall.

"I'm not sorry." Mai then licks her lips and pretends his outburst did not happen. He probably does have to worry about being murdered in his sleep more than most people. "I want to talk about our plans..."

Zuko's face contorts into an expression of concern, but his girlfriend dismisses it.

* * *

Azula tries to mask her jealousy but doubts she is doing a good job of it. Particularly from the way Katara keeps looking at her, with her lips pursed and the inability to stop herself from glancing at her brother and Ty Lee every two seconds.

They are now officially in the distant island chain between the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. It is a wretched place that smells of smoke from ships and rotting wood of docks. Azula has never been in a place that has ever intimidated her this much, and she spent half of last summer in an active war zone.

A merchant presses something towards her and Ty Lee seizes her arm and pulls her out of the way, rolling her grey eyes and telling Azula to not make eye contact. Azula does not want to look naive by asking where she is supposed to put her eyes, so they just sort of... dart around everywhere like a crazy person.

"Do you want to hold my hand?" Ty Lee asks gently and Azula glares at her. "You're shaking pretty badly."

"I'll hold your hand," offers Aang quickly and Ty Lee laughs. Oh, the Avatar is adorable. "I mean, this place is pretty scary and I'm a really good hand holder."

Azula does not know why or how she got herself into this.

"Okay, which of these stores looks the least likely to be a den of human traffickers?" Katara muses as she looks around. They currently are severely lacking the supplies they need to make it the rest of the way across the ocean alive, and Azula and Ty Lee have been kindly informed that they will be selling their valuables.

"Oh, oh, oh, Katara, that ship has Water Tribe weapons in front," Sokka says, shaking her shoulder as her eyes bulge.

Azula tries to hide the fact that those were likely pried from corpses, but she longs so desperately to get off of this street that she quickly scurries inside before the rest of the group can react.

It is not a frightening shop, particularly. Azula recognizes mottos of one of the famous military families on the walls, and everything in here seems to be a spoil of war. She feels at ease to be among people with enough honor to conquer this many people, and not the scuzzy street vendors and constant murmurs of, _'Hello, ladies, 'Have a nice afternoon, ladies'_ and more unrepeatable variants.

The Water Tribe companions immediately start looking at their culture's wares, and Azula does not want to be beside them when they realize the only reason that those items would be on sale in the Fire Nation Homeland. Instead, Azula and Ty Lee walk up to the counter, the Avatar following them.

"If these people recognize me..." Azula mutters to Ty Lee out of earshot.

At last, the shopkeeper walks in from the back, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist.

"You all look like the shoplifting sort," he says in a low and accusatory tone. And then he just shakes his head. "No, maybe you're okay. What can I do for you?"

"We want to sell these things." Azula drops the stained leather bag filled with the jewels and party clothes that she and Ty Lee were forced to cough up.

* * *

The negotiation is generally unpleasant, solely because of Azula, and her unwillingness to accept any form of defeat. Ty Lee finds it humorous that Azula is not matched in wits and speech by war heroes and politicians, but a haggling used goods salesman is perhaps her only equal.

But thankfully, it is cut short as Katara tugs on Aang and Azula both and Sokka moves to take Ty Lee before seeing Azula's enraged eyes and deciding against it. The shopkeeper waves happily as Azula spits insults, and they somehow escape unscathed.

"When I," Azula declares as soon as they have fled the main town into the woods, "become Fire Lord, I am having he and all of his relatives murdered in graphic and disturbing ways."

Katara shoots her a worried glance and Azula realizes her misstep.

"I am playfully exaggerating," Azula says in the calmest voice she can muster.

They set up camp near the opposite side of the island, which has been deserted since the Comet. No trade or warships come in this direction or need this dock any longer, and, eventually, the inhabitants moved on. And likely became rebels.

"So, why the rush? We didn't manage to make any money, or get any food," Sokka remarks, his frustration entirely directed at his sister.

It reminds Azula of she and Zuko, except, for some reason, their struggles do not seem rooted in one being superior, or outside forces. They just seem to have bitter and unresolved issues that Azula imagines she will have to dig into if she is going to exploit them properly.

"The rush may or may not have been because that man was right about us being the shoplifting type," Katara admits and Azula is surprised. She did not read the prim and fierce woman as someone prone to breaking rules.

"If you got us anything other than the supplies we need..."

"Supplies we need are things to help Aang. He's the focus right now, and seeing as we lost a _lot _of progress on our way to the North Pole with our Fire Nation nearly getting killed detour, I decided to try to help him with waterbending."

"Why has _she_ not volunteered any firebending knowledge? Katara can't even melt snow in a desert..." demands Sokka as Katara withdraws a rather expensive looking scroll.

"I got you a gift too," Katara interrupts, rolling her cobalt eyes, and Azula thinks that Zuko would not have taken a bending insult so tolerantly. Katara hands her brother a small and intricate bone dagger with Water Tribe carvings. "So hush."

Sokka looks at it and shrugs. "I, uh... well, it's not like they got that Water Tribe stuff legally in the first place..."

The only person who looks willing to protest is the young Avatar. He had been in a sickeningly good mood all day, but now he looks angry.

"Why would you take that?" he asks, staring at Katara as if she has personally betrayed him by a justifiable theft. "It's... kind of disrespectful. And I can wait for the North Pole, Azula knows firebending and I know that's not really the right order, but I'm not in the average Avatar situation either..."

Katara is silent for a moment, seeming stunned.

"Disrespectful?" Her eyebrow twitches and Azula must admit she is getting excited. "_Disrespectful _is the fact that this was robbed off of the corpse of one of _my people_."

Aang hesitates. "I lost my people too, but sometimes I think you and Sokka might be too resentful. When I saw Gyatso I─"

Katara stands up, looking like a teapot reaching a boil.

"_Too resentful_! We watched for years as people were taken from us! Our mother was killed in front of me!"

Aang does frown at those words. "I mean, the way you've been so distrustful of Azula and Ty Lee when they've helped us. And mistrusting other people is not very... I don't know. You have every right to learn waterbending, but I don't know why you─"

"_You're not the only person who's the last of your kind!" _screams Katara so loudly that everyone from here to Ba Sing Se probably heard it.

The Avatar looks immediately remorseful as he realizes what he has said, but Katara has already stormed off towards the deserted, dilapidated buildings and the water.

Azula just realizes that she has gained an advantage in her social game.

* * *

"The islands are deserted on the northern side," Mai points out as they realize the many shreds of land and crowded docks have caused them to lose sight of their prey. "That's where we should check first, since they probably won't get caught."

"Until we catch them," Zhao adds.

* * *

Katara is by the water alone when she hears someone walking up behind her. She grabs a small wave, but it does very little, and snaps before she can attack. To her relief, she sees that it is Azula.

"Can't sleep?" Katara asks cautiously, eyeing Azula for some sign of betrayal or imminent violence.

"How did you guess?" Azula asks and it takes Katara a small second to realize it is rhetorical. "So, that fight was certainly interesting."

Katara can only nod. "We're being followed. I know I probably shouldn't be by the water, but..."

"It's calming," Azula says while Katara is silent for too long. "I think the reason your brother doesn't understand why you relate so much to the Avatar is because you're also the last of your kind."

"Except I actually watched my kind die in front of me." Katara throws a fist and the water bounces to the surface, causing the princess to flinch. "No one is ever going to understand , and I don't expect them to."

"Why do you want to go to the North Pole? Don't you think that they might as well be the Fire Nation?"

Katara scoffs and snarls like an aggravated animal. "_How dare you_..."

"How dare I point out that the only people unscathed are the same people who abandoned your tribe? The Earth Kingdom burned, but there was oppression first. The airbenders were all killed. And your people..."

"My people slowly died out. My tribe went from thousands to a few. Every time I went home after leaving with my dad and Sokka, more of us were gone. Or more unborn children had died before they even opened their eyes. That's worse than genocide. That's... disgusting." And Katara turns to Azula, her chest puffed up in anger. "And you have no say in any of this. It's not a secret what you did to Ba Sing Se. You're all monsters."

Azula bites her lip and Katara thinks it is the first human emotion she has ever seen on Azula's face. Katara feels slight guilt, but she also knows that her words are true.

"Of course we are," Azula says calmly and Katara does not think she is being sarcastic. "I would never deny that adjective describing me. I'm only curious, though, about you and your situation."

Katara is quiet as she suddenly realized no one has ever asked her about being the last waterbender of her tribe. No one has ever even asked her about herself, because Katara refuses to show the side of herself that is angry, vengeful or hurting.

Other people had bigger problems than her. Katara knew she was fortunate, and therefore considered showing negativity to be uncalled for.

_However_, compared to the spoiled, slaughter-happy princess, Katara is a charity case.

And therefore, she decides to speak her mind. "I'm angry, and I'm always angry, honestly. I close my eyes and see the man who killed my mother, and the only way I can make it go away is by imagining killing him. The thing is, I'm less angry at the Fire Nation than at my own friends and allies. The Fire Nation is just a blur, not a country but a _thing_. The people who told me my bending was useless and I was helpless had faces. The faces of people I loved."

Katara breathes in and out and waits for a moment. But Azula says nothing and has a blank expression. So the waterbender says, "If we weren't so busy with the Earth Kingdom, helping them blow up supply lines and free their prisoners, we could've saved a lot of dead people at the South Pole. I've seen that most of the Earth Kingdom has been Fire Nation integrated for so long that they don't even notice. That they were even spared from the comet. And nobody even bothered touching the North Pole, in, what? Eighty years, I heard from a few of their soldiers? But for no reason other than being in the wrong place, my tribe didn't _get _second chances or colonization. We were just picked off one by one."

With another deep breath, Katara thinks that she has no more to say. Perhaps she could rant about the lavish party she attended in the Fire Nation, or about how Azula has the nerve to try to control their group. But that is all Katara has truly hidden.

_She has more need for revenge than _anyone_._

"Well, I can't say that I can even visualize the meaning of those deaths. And I won't pretend to genuinely _care_. But your outburst has been on my mind, and I think, that the people who wronged you deserve penance, and you deserve revenge," Azula says softly, forcing back her smile and trying to look sympathetic.

Katara looks at her feet. "No one's ever agreed with me on that before."

"My father always told me that there's no worse thing than someone who wronged you walking free and happy," and Azula hopes that the analogy to the Fire Lord will not upset Katara. She does, however, think that humanizing herself as a loving daughter will make her more relatable. "I won't do it for you, but I won't stop you."

"Tell me about Ba Sing Se."

"I burned it to the ground. It's not that great of a story, and given that I sacked Ba Sing Se before I was fifteen, I doubt that it will be my greatest lifetime accomplishment," Azula says and Katara seems too distracted to be offended.

"You want to be Fire Lord."

"Did you only just figure that out?"

"You want to be Fire Lord but you helped Aang meet with Roku, and you joined us and you obviously pissed those people off who tried to kill us with cannons."

Azula does not even have to contemplate the proper answer to persuade Katara. "For my entire life I was taught to keep out of everyone's way, and be kind and complacent, and I would be handed the crown. The moment I showed that I was more than just a mindless, loyal weapon, I lost that. So, I'm done pretending. I'm going to do the things _I want_ and that I think are right, and if people don't follow me for that, they're not the kind of people I want to be following me."

_ And perfect. _Katara's reaction feels like Azula just executed a perfect spar with just the right timing and movements. It does not matter how much is true; she is just pleased to have the most important person in her new group on her side.

"Maybe you're not a monster."

"I thought we agreed not to lie to each other."

Katara laughs dryly before their moment is abruptly interrupted. Azula cannot believe she let herself get distracted by playing her social game and forgot about the fact that she is being hunted, and as she sees Katara throw a fist at a masked assaulter, Azula feels something sharp prick her neck, and hits the ground.

* * *

Azula's eyes open very slowly. "If I pass out one more time..." She doesn't have a follow up to that, but she is getting incredibly tired of unconsciousness at this point.

"Welcome to the world of the miserably living," Katara says sarcastically and Azula laughs. "What's so funny?"

"You remind me of someone, except... exactly the opposite of her at the same time." Azula forces herself to sit up and look at her surroundings. She is on a dreadnought, of a make she cannot immediately identify, locked in a brig with Katara and no one else.

"Okay, well, Aang and Sokka and Ty Lee have no idea we're gone," Katara grumbles, crossing her arms.

"What happened to eternal hope?" Azula's lips twist and Katara just grunts.

Before they can continue, the door is thrown open and Azula is separated from her sole companion, seized by brawny soldiers and taken down the hall. She could have expected as much; of course she is more interesting than the others they collected. Particularly because everyone managed to escape except for she and Katara... and also because Aang, Sokka and Ty Lee have no idea they are currently gone.

_Which is just wonderful, obviously._

She is led to a small war room, which is empty save for even more heavily armed soldiers, and Zuko, Mai and Zhao. Azula cannot restrain herself from mouthing, _traitors _at her brother and best friend, and Zuko squirms as Mai averts her eyes.

"Set her down," orders Zhao and Azula allows herself to be taken to the ominous chair and table. The soldiers are gentle with her, to her pleasure, and murmur apologies that they hope their superiors do not hear.

_Probably just because they aren't dumb enough to arrest and threaten the Fire Lord's perfect baby girl..._

"Hello," Azula says sweetly, refusing to stand down or look ashamed. Her heart is, admittedly, pounding, as she realizes she might be exposed as just another sleazy person pursuing the throne.

She wonders if she should be best keep up her charade about wanting to help the Avatar and be a revolutionary figure, or if she should come clean about her malicious and loyalist intentions. One of them will likely grant her more leniency, but she actually has no clue which.

Princess Azula wishes she were more prepared for this. She always is prepared. She is always a few steps ahead, but she also can think quickly on her feet, like she did when she destroyed her engagement by kissing Ty Lee.

"This was surprisingly easy," Zhao remarks as he examines her. He flicks his wrist towards the door and no one does anything. That seems to frustrate him, and all he does is repeat the gesture before finally just pointing at the door. Mai shuts it, her shoulder shaking very slightly with silent laughter.

Maybe Azula was too quick to accuse her of being a traitor.

"You did hit me with a dart. Are you afraid to fight me?" Azula asks, cocking her head. "It must be fun being my father's official babysitter for me."

"I am on an important, valuable mission to capture the Avatar."

"Oh, and restore your honor? That was a valuable mission also shared by that loser in the corner. I refuse to tell you where my Avatar is, because I'm not stupid and would rather die than give up the most valuable piece in the game."

"I don't know what game you're playing," Zhao growls, his jaw already clenched within two minutes of conversation. "_But _no one else is playing it. And no one else is playing as _dirty _as you."

"Life's not fair. Why should I play fair? I like winning and I don't care how I win," Azula says with a very warm, uncharacteristically wide smile. "And in this game, you win or you die."

Zhao hesitates before progressing. "I have plenty of ways of making people tell me things."

"I was trained in resisting them from a young age," Azula says as Zhao slowly walks behind her. "I've also executed plenty of them, in my conquest of Ba Sing Se. I doubt, again with all due respect, that you could conquer a half-broken teacup. I am quite literally your worst nightmare, and you have no idea what I'm capable of."

She actually did not predict what comes next; she does not fully register the hand on the back of her head until her face collides with a metal table. Azula expected to stay relatively unscathed, but now her head is pounding and her vision is half red.

"That was stupid," Mai remarks coldly while Azula looks only disoriented and confused. "How is she even going to comprehend what you're saying now?"

"I'll give her a moment to collect herself," Zhao says fiercely, forcefully enunciating each word.

In the silence, once recovered from the blow to her head, Azula carefully watches everyone surrounding her in the tiny, compressed room. She knows she will be able to tell if anyone intends to strike, and she knows that she will stop them. All the same, this would make her tremble if she did not have such control over her body and breath.

"I am very angry right now," Zhao says, as if Azula is the cause of _that _bowl of untouchable inadequacy issues.

"That seems to be your perpetual state, with all due respect," Azula says sweetly and watches Zhao's eyebrow twitch. She does move her shoulder slightly when she thinks he is going to push her into metal again.

"Running around with Water Tribe, rebels, the _Avatar_, that circus freak? If you think this is doing you any favors in your political ambitions, you're insane."

"Oh, yes, and this beautiful bruise on my eye is going to be so persuasive when you try to convince my father to hand you the crown. I am much better at this game you claim no one is playing than you can possibly imagine," Azula says, the very tip of her tongue touching her lower lip for a moment.

Zhao narrows his eyes, his nostrils flaring. "This is a game for adults, Princess Azula. Now tell me where your friends are before I have to take your stuffed animals away."

"Oh, well, my diary is underneath my Fire Fairy Dream Playhouse." She snickers as his lip curls into a twisted, gnarled shape. "Right next to yours. You know, the one that goes into your assassination attempts on me in great detail..."

Zhao's expression is suddenly shocked and Azula smirks.

"Zuko," Azula orders, turning to her brother. He clears his throat and wishes she had not dragged him into this. "If I am incapacitated, perhaps by one of these brutes smashing my face into another table, I've left instructions on where to find it as with the rest of the evidence against the Admiral."

"You're bluffing," Zhao says hopefully and Azula just shakes her head.

"Test me," Azula says smoothly, keeping herself from glancing at the door. She cannot give away her plans, so long as they do work out. The Avatar and his friends are not the most competent people Azula has ever met.

"Watch your mouth," Zhao orders and Azula has to force herself not to shake her head or laugh. "Do you want protection? Do you want to be a turncoat? Why are you fighting your own people for two inbred rebel brats and the largest threat to our empire?"

Azula breathes in slowly. Clearly the truth will not do, particularly with so many people listening intently. She thinks quickly and carefully about the best way to come off as a good leader, and not another one of the hungry nobles chasing the crown.

"If we treat our enemies with distrust and ignorance, we will never progress. The Fire Nation is in malcontent because we won the war and there is nothing left for us but ash and ourselves to squabble with. We have been at war for a century, and now we are the point where we must rebuild."

"It's not a collaborative effort. The Fire Nation won so that our values would be the only ones."

"The Fire Nation won to improve the world─"

"Do you believe those ridiculous propaganda speeches about freedom?" Zhao scoffs and shakes his head in disbelief.

"I did write them." Azula clears her throat. "I was raised to navigate politics and to rule an empire over which the sun never sets. My job is to appeal to and govern the masses, which now include more cultures and ethnicities than we can count."

"Go on."

"Your job is to win wars. That's what you learned. Your generation was focused on the dominance of our nation. The comet cleansed the old world with fire, and I intend to rebuild and assure the dissenters I have their best interests at heart."

"My job is─"

"I repeat, _your job is to win wars_. There is no war any longer, Zhao. You're a washed up and useless old man whose only chance at ever feeling a power rush was marrying a sixteen year old girl. I have already proven that I support the people and I love the people, because if not, how could I wed a colony bred girl, or join my enemies in order to make the right choices for the Fire Nation and dethrone an insane ruler."

"You fancy yourself a beloved revolutionary, then? You think that it's what people want?" Zhao demands.

"Well, given that the majority of the Fire Nation is begging for revolution, their exact words, I do think it's what they want. I fancy myself a real leader, who only intends to advance the interests of the Fire Nation instead of my own desires," is Azula's articulate response, despite her screaming headache.

"You will, mark my words, be remembered as an abhorrent traitor and a selfish, spoilt young girl with a lying habit, who tried to fool people wiser than her to claim a false birthright."

"If you say so." Azula shrugs and laughs carelessly.

And then there is silence. Zhao has just fully realized that his greatest enemy is impossible to truly hurt or threaten, and that is not something he has encountered before.

Zhao attempts to appeal to the loyalist he knows she is behind the fake rebel. "Do you remember what color your blood is, princess?"

"Hmmm, why don't you find out? I respectfully and honorably challenge you to an Agni Kai."


	14. Chapter 14

"I would have to turn down a challenge to an Agni Kai from a child," Zhao says quickly and Azula stares at him for a moment.

"A _child_. Clearly, if I am old enough for you to marry, I am old enough for you to fight," Azula says fiercely and Mai suppresses laughter, making a choking sound that no one is paying attention to.

Zhao looks offended by that comment, as if it were not his disgusting ploy for power to try to wed a sixteen year old. And also with a hint of regret for choosing _this _sixteen year old. Who happens to yes, absolutely be his worst possible nightmare.

"Alright. I will be sure to spare your facial features."

"How thoughtful of you after bashing my head into a metal table."

Mai cannot disguise her small laugh this time. Zuko looks at her, bewildered, not noticing Zhao's insult of his scar in favor of noticing his girlfriend _laughing_. She terrifies him, yet he finds her very extremely hot at the same time.

"To the deck, I suppose, princess," he says solemnly.

* * *

Katara is dragged out of her prison, trying to remain calm, as she sees two people preparing for a fight, the sunset drenching them in orange light. They stand on opposite sides, and one of them is very clearly Princess Azula, and the other their captor.

She cannot quite figure it out, as she squints. Her eyes drift to the sky as she looks for Appa, or really, _anything _at this point. But they are immediately torn away as suddenly the heat of Admiral Zhao's flames reach for her face. Katara ducks, startled that his attack was so messy.

Azula does not even move as he advances on her. And when she does, she might as well be weightless, boneless and remorseless. He is panting within two minutes of chasing her. Katara has never watched two firebenders fight each other before in her life, even though she has seen a lot of firebenders against waterbenders or earthbenders.

She grabs his wrist and he punches at her face. She flips over his arm, and he tries to pin her down. But when she strikes, Katara is agape. The orange and grey are streaked with bright, vibrant blue as the heat intensifies.

Move after move after move. He looks flustered, Azula looks... _bored_? No, thinking... she's... _thinking_. Katara has been in enough binds with her dad's rebels to know that face, and she quickly focuses on whatever their escape is going to be.

And Katara's providence is through lightning. Azula distinctly misses Zhao, and hits the chains supporting one of the smaller, attack boats. Katara did not even notice them suspended in the background, but she does when her ears nearly explode from the screeching metal, and she is dropped by the guards holding her.

Zuko is stunned; Mai does not know what to do. Azula starts running immediately, one blast of fire breaking Katara's handcuffs as the boat starts... _twisting_. Katara is grabbed by the waist and slides, slides, slides...

* * *

Azula is running, Katara beside her, both of them not looking at each other or looking back. The attempt to navigate the boat without any _paddles _and the significant _scratches _in it, with Fire Navy soldiers chasing them was surprisingly successful, even if it took until well past nightfall. They raced to shore and then bounded into the woods as fast as they could go, and now they are trying to make it all the way across the island back to Aang, Sokka and Ty Lee.

Night has passed; the sun has risen. And Azula and Katara still are nowhere near civilization. But at least they are gone.

Granted, Azula is certain that Zhao and Zuko and Mai will never stop chasing them.

"The camp is that way," Katara points as they skid to a stop. "Over that ridge."

"Volcanic rock is painful to climb," Azula whispers as she bites down on her lip and glares at the formidable path ahead of her. She wishes this just stayed _forest_. "And how do you _know_?"

"That sign you ran past without bothering to check was pointing to the merchant dock where I stole the waterbending scroll," Katara states and Azula can see she is not lying. And why would she? Katara seems to be a _sickening _fan of truth and loyalty.

Azula sighs. "I would rather climb volcanic rock than go back to Zhao," she admits royally and Katara rolls her cerulean eyes.

"So who's Zhao? And who were his friends?"

"The man who tried to marry me and also assassinate me in pretty much the same breath, my brother and my best friend who am yet uncertain if wants to join us or murder us. And some miscellaneous soldiers."

"Do you think they followed us?"

"Probably. And I'm sure we left a nice, nice trail for them with the boat wreckage..."

"_Your _boat wreckage."

"So you'd rather have stayed and been turned in to my father?"

"No." Katara pauses. "Shut up. I doubt they could follow us up that thing."

Azula frowns, despising how _right _the water peasant is.

They start running again, heading towards the thick, jagged black rocks that loom over everything else on this island. Azula has never been to the Eastern Islands, but she _has _been to volcanic parks, and she _has _scraped herself pretty nastily on this stuff.

And she doubts Katara knows better how to navigate it.

When they reach the side of the cliffs, there _are _handholds, but it also has loose water pouring down the side.

"Please tell me you can at least bend that," Azula whispers to her companion. Katara grimaces and then fiercely nods.

"Yes, yes, yes," she lies and Azula wishes she could not tell.

Katara does manage to push a bit out of the way, but the surface is still slick, and Azula is fairly certain she might die during their attempt to climb up. This is probably not better than Zhao, Azula realizes as she makes the mistake of looking down after climbing only a few feet up.

Azula pulls herself further as Katara grunts and almost slips, managing to save herself by blessing of being a waterbender. In theory, Azula could probably catch herself with her firebending. _In theory_. She is getting much, much too high off of the ground for _in theory _to be comforting.

And then it happens. _Of course it happens because this is why Azula hates the wilderness_. Azula stumbles, and slips, on the _water_ and starts falling. Careening, screaming loudly enough to make the forest just _erupt _with frightened birds of varying shapes.

"I'm coming!" Katara screams without a thought for her own safety.

Azula waves her arms, trying to figure out _in theory_, and Katara has _thrown _herself from her perch to grab onto Azula's arm. Katara seizes the rock, wincing loudly with the pain of it on her hand. Azula dangles, clinging to her desperately, her already pale face ashen.

"Do something!" Azula shouts breathlessly and Katara wishes that the she could not hear the cracking sound of the rock under her hand. "Why aren't you an earthbender?"

_Snap_.

Both girls are now shrieking in horror as they plummet, and then _in theory _pulls through for Azula. She catches herself and Katara's stomach nearly rips in two from the jarring sensation of being held in midair. Katara decides she really prefers having her feet on the ground.

Azula gives one very fierce push and they are back on the rocks, scrambling now, to the top. They make it. Somehow, by some providence or luck, they are lying on top of the rock formation, gasping for air and both confused as could be.

They exchange a silent glance, and not a word needs to be spoken.

* * *

The camp is in utter distress upon the loss of Azula and Katara. As if the fight was not bad enough, now they have both vanished.

Aang asks for the thousandth time, "Where are they?"

Sokka, Ty Lee and Aang have traversed the abandoned village a million times over since the woke up and found Azula and Katara missing. They went a ways into the forest, and then came back, and then just sat down around the fire in the morning chill.

"Katara stole a waterbending scroll," Ty Lee says and Sokka and Aang just look confused. "Why haven't we checked by the _water_?"

Ty Lee roughly gestures at the ocean and the Avatar and warrior have to admit she has a point they probably should not have missed.

"Good thinking. I have no idea why your fiancee says you're dumb," Sokka says and Ty Lee frowns instead of blushing. And then Sokka feels like an idiot. "I'm just, it was a compliment. I wasn't flirting with you I..."

And she is gone, disappearing with Aang at her side to go find the beach.

_Well, wonderful,_ Sokka sighs, _now _everyone _is mad at me._

* * *

Katara grabs at her neck as soon as she and Azula have caught their breath. "My mother's necklace!"

"What?" Azula sits up, trying to control her still ragged breathing.

"It's gone..." Katara looks so dejected.

"You had me about to hock my gems," Azula says coolly and Katara glares.

"My mother is dead, and that's all I have left of her."

Azula looks at her feet. "I'm so sorry for your loss." She stands up.

"Don't joke about things like that! Don't joke about what _you _stole from me!" Katara shouts, despite the inside of her throat screaming in pain.

"I did none of that. Perhaps if you did better job identifying your enemy, you would have never gotten into this mess," Azula snarls and Katara clenches her muddy, bruised fists. "And unless that was some kind of magical resurrection stone, it isn't like it was going to bring her back from the dead."

Katara's nostrils flare, and she shoots up, aiming to punch the princess. But Azula turns around and grabs her fist. But neither girl strikes the other.

"Let's just find a way back to our camp," Azula says and Katara clenches her jaw.

"_My _camp."

"Whatever you want to call it."

* * *

Azula and Katara stare over the edge of the other side of the ink black ridge.

"I thought you said that walking this way would help us find steps," Katara says sharply.

"I'm not an expert. Okay?" Azula snaps as she also realizes that they had at least ten better places to get down behind them and they are running out of energy and daylight quickly.

"I know." Katara frowns. "I'm going to try this little ledge."

Katara thinks nothing of it, until she starts plummeting. _Again_. Azula follows her quickly, this time having the advantage, this time able to put endless years of training to work. It hurts her legs, but she manages to catch up with Katara as she falls and grabs her.

As they go further down, the branches lash at Azula's skin like whips, and she loses her footing as she manages to slow Katara's fall. They both land with a thud, but one of them with a rather unceremonious _crack_.

Katara says, "Please tell me that wasn't one of your bones."

"It wasn't one of my bones," Azula whispers and Katara looks away the instant she tries to look.

"Yes it was!" _Gagging. Gagging. _"Yes it was! Why did you lie!"

"You told me to tell you."

"Well aren't you a lovable smartmouth!" Katara snaps viciously.

"I'm a _lovable smartmouth _who could have let you fall and not done _this _to her leg," Azula snarls back as she sits up, fighting back a whimper. "And I could've just handed you to Zhao. What made you think you were even _qualified _to try to step on that ledge?"

"I climbed lots of sharp ice at the South Pole."

"With soft snow waiting for you like a pillow, at the bottom," Azula spits as Katara stands up and grabs Azula without asking.

"No, actually, an icy watery grave. I'll help you walk."

It is work, helping Azula, but Katara does it. And, at last, they come to a break in the forest, and find a river. A river that... does not look very safe for crossing.

It _thunders_ and _rages_, and is a frothy white. Why does all of the water on these islands want to _kill _Azula, anyway?

"We can't... we can't go back through that," Azula gasps and Katara is surprised to see her so _scared _after what she just pulled on that ship, and after throwing herself down a cliff and _flying on her fire _in mid-air. And after that _Agni Kai_.

"It's just water," Katara says weakly, knowing that probably is not very reassuring to a firebender. It isn't that reassuring to herself either, given the abnormally fast current. "I need you to trust me. I trusted _you_, a sworn enemy of my people. So, trust me."

Katara extends a hand and Azula genuinely contemplates scurrying back to the ship and just turning herself in to Zhao. But bracing herself, Azula grabs Katara's hand and allows her to pull her in.

Uneasily, Katara says, "Just relax and think floaty thoughts."

"F-floaty thoughts?" Azula stammers in shock.

Katara wraps her left arm around Azula's waist and guides her slowly into the water until it is up to both of their waists. She turns the princess and, "Just lean on my hip, like you're sitting, right, there you go."

Azula makes some kind of muffled sound of reluctance, but she does the movement as Katara instructed. "What now?"

"Don't try to swim. Relax your arms." Katara tries desperately not to think about exactly how it feels to have this woman wrapped so tightly around her waist. Azula is clinging onto her in all of the wrong places to make this a not awkward trip across a potentially deadly river.

But Katara refuses to let go, and despite the loud water and Azula's pounding heart, she manages to keep her head on straight. Azula thrashes in her arms once and they both go under before Katara manages to pull them back up and they gasp desperately for air. The princess stays as still as a statue after that unwilling adventure with almost drowning.

"Okay," Katara says as Azula coughs and sputters onto her shoulder, "this is a big river, and there's easily another fifteen minutes of this. But I _won't let go_. And if you do fall ─ oh don't hiss like that, you prissy little wimp ─ don't fight against the current. I will come for you. I _promise_."

"I can't trust you with _that_," Azula snaps as she hugs Katara even more tightly. "I trusted you on the cliffs and I fell almost to my death."

"_You _helped with the genocide that killed my family."

"You don't know me," Azula snarls sharply into Katara's ear.

Katara bites back her urge to shout. And she calmly, earnestly, says, "But I'd like to know you. So hold on, okay?"

* * *

"I am so not behind this ground attack," Mai repeats, despite the fact that she is partaking in the ground attack. Despite the fact that she is _leading _this assault on the Avatar's supposed forest camp fortress.

"Well, I'm not either," Zuko says as he clutches his broadswords.

Mai, Zuko and five of the best soldiers on the ship have been assigned to follow the water girl and Azula to the Avatar's hideout somewhere in the forest. All of this is running off of assumptions, and Mai is not finding the bugs or the heat very pleasant.

But Zhao is all wounded over his lost Agni Kai, and Mai supposes, if she is going to divert the course of actions from his feeble attempts at leadership, best to be isolated from his tantrum. But Mai is bored, Mai is bored, hot, sticky and the forest is silent.

"We need to draw their attention," Zuko says, knowing in his gut that Azula is somewhere here.

"Yes, this could be an opportune time for you to accidentally stab one of those beetle-wasp nests," Mai suggests as she points at the hives and he glares at her. "I'm just saying..."

"There is only a certain extent to which I will tolerate your dreams of grandeur," Zuko says and Mai does something that looks a bit like smirking. "I will absolutely sneak around or destroy the lives of any of these assholes, and maybe I would even get really hurt for you, but I will _not _get stung by thousands of bees."

"That's a deal breaker in our relationship, I guess. I will only marry a man who will get stung by thousands of bees for me first," Mai whispers, now quietly laughing.

"Stop," says one of the men and Mai controls her brief flicker of rage about being told to do something by underlings.

"What?" Mai walks forward, towards him. "What is it?"

"This." He holds up a necklace, light blue, Water Tribe.

Mai squints and realizes that it belongs to the water girl Azula was with. She gently takes it from his hand and examines it closely. And then she looks at the broken branches, the jagged black cliffs that are so clearly disrupted.

It does not talk a master tracker to know that they _climbed _that.

"Is there a way around here that doesn't involve climbing up volcanic rock?" Mai inquires and the man nods.

"An hour that way there's a town. It's near a resort where ─"

"I didn't ask for your life story. Just if there was a way for me not to have to climb things." She tucks the necklace into her pocket and gestures for the soldier to guide the team.

* * *

Azula and Katara are about halfway across when it is Katara who falters. She tries to bend a rapid that is much stronger than the rest, and they are both swept under. Azula does not have a chance to scream before her mouth is filled with water.

She learned to swim. Yes. She did. Her father just threw Zuko in, which made her brother generally resent water, adults and possibly just _everything ever_. Azula, he was always more careful with. Sudden realization that she is going to die out here and he will never know. Sudden realization that she is being swept down a river, her head fuzzy, her leg bleeding, and she probably should have just stayed home where it was safe, and she knew she would be fine. Sudden realization that she condemned the only human she ever wanted, or ever kissed, to a life as a fugitive or worse.

Sudden realization that she has just hit a submerged rock, and all of those thoughts are gone.

* * *

Katara swims to Azula as quickly as she can. She saw her go below the surface and feels a panic surging through her. _No, no, no... _Azula may be unpleasant, but Katara thinks there is a lot more to her. Katara thinks that her cruelty comes from pain, and Azula also has saved Katara's butt a couple times by now.

So she swims, and swims, and swims. She dives down again and again, not finding Azula anywhere. Her eyes adjust far better than most to the water, and she is able to, at last, see Azula's fuzzy outline. Katara grabs the princess in her arms and rests her on the rock she must have hit.

Oh, oh, no...

Heart pounding, Katara squeezes her eyes shut and knows that if her useless bending is ever going to decide to be useful, it is going to be now. She moves her hand to Azula's mouth, hoping she will not also dislodge her internal organs, and moves to ─ _cough_, Azula gasps and sits up on her own.

Katara sighs in utter relief.

"Were you just about to try to bend my insides?" Azula accuses breathlessly, choking again.

Looking at her tan, guilty hand, Katara murmurs, "Nope."

"Right." Azula breathes and breathes. She thought she was a goner, but she is glad to be breathing. Even if she is lost in this Agni-forsaken wilderness with Katara.

"Come on," Katara says quickly, and Azula does not protest as she latches on again and this time clings more tightly.

The rest of the way is easier, and Katara at last lays both of their bodies on the squishy, mossy shore. Exhausted, breathless and stained by nature, they both stare at the sky as the sun is nearing the horizon again.

"It's been two days. They probably have stopped looking," Azula says and Katara rolls her eyes.

"You are constant _downer, _huh?"

"What an optimist calls a realist," Azula replies sharply before pushing herself to her feet and collapsing again. "I'm bleeding a lot."

"_Thank you for saving me, Katara_," mutters the waterbender as she, yet again, moves to help the granddaughter of the man who signed her mother's death warrant. Katara thinks she may be one crazy girl.

"Thank you for saving me, _possibly_. Look around," Azula says, gesturing at the thick river canyon. Katara tries not to stare too long at the deathtrap enclosed around them.

She just grabs a sharp rock and tears off her shirt to make bandages for Azula's wound. "How did you even get _cut _on top of _crushed_?"

"With you. You and your _nearly-killing-Azula-boner_!" the princess snaps and Katara sighs weakly. "Can't your kind _heal_?"

"I'm sorry that your grandfather had all of the waterbenders in my tribe killed," Katara mutters to herself as she wraps Azula's wound. The princess does not complain, which is a moderate relief.

The woods are getting colder as the sun sets further, and Azula starts a fire and strips off her clothes. Katara decides not to.

"You're going to freeze to death, waterbender or not. Are you modest or do you think I'm going to assault you?"

"I've... Cultural differences?" Katara is trying _really hard _not to stare.

"I need somebody to help me through the rest of these woods. Either sit closer to the fire or undress," Azula says, crossing her arms. "I'm not interested."

"Why not?" _Stupid, ugh, I could punch myself_, Katara thinks.

"Because reasons." Azula sits down close to the flames, and Katara can see how warm they are, and how her clothes are warmish, but still sticky and cold.

Sighing, she undresses and sits opposite Azula near the flames. It does feel nice.

The woods are loud, and neither of them think they will sleep well.

* * *

_**AN:** Update, I ended this on a cliffhanger and felt super bad; so I added the next part on and posted the chapter again.  
**IMPORTANT: **This is NOT going to be Azula/Katara, at all. But their journey together in survival is going to be very important to the plot and character development, and there will be an eventual strong friendship between them, but no more than friendship. Yes, there will be some romantic/sexual tension between them, ala Zuko and Katara, but I have a beautiful Tyzula reunion planned, and this journey is way more about the duality between Azula and Katara, and their extreme differences, and also creating a new rift in alliances in the group, and some trust issues for various relationships, than building a romance.  
I do know that them being half naked in the woods totally will read as trying to make Azula/Katara, but this all has purpose, and Ty Lee and Azula have a reunion I am really excited about because it is muy romantic.  
_


	15. Chapter 15

Katara does not trust Azula to take first watch. Azula does not trust Katara to take _any _watch.

And therefore, they sit, at a stalemate, around their quietly crackling fire. The darkness consumes them as the two quiet sentinels keep a mutual watch of the forest around them. The shadows of the trees consume absolutely all in their path. The silence is impenetrable, yet not frustrating. Perhaps they desire silence.

Or so Azula thought, until Katara says, "So what's the deal with you and Ty Lee?"

Azula hesitates, hoping it does not take too long. "We can't keep our hands off of each other. We're madly in love, after all."

It sounded a tad sarcastic. Perhaps because Azula thinks that Katara is probably fairly smart. If anyone in their group would notice the reluctance of Azula and Ty Lee, it would be her. Azula does think she will be able to keep up the charade, particularly because she has thought about Ty Lee several too many times during this trip.

"But how did you meet? How did it happen?" The fire flickers to its darkest and Katara waits for Azula to relight it, but she does not, and so Katara pokes it with a stick and grabs another fistful of leaves.

"We were friends when we were children. We played with each other and went to school together." Azula bites her lip and toys with her fingers for a moment while Katara waits for more. "As we grew older, hormones kicked in. She was probably destined to be my courtesan and nothing more. But, I couldn't bear being wed to Zhao, so I took action."

Katara laughs and says, "I can see why you wouldn't, and I've only met the guy once."

"Yes," Azula says, thinking of her anger. She felt great betrayal from her father, but it would not be the first time.

Azula loves Ozai, because he is the only person who has ever showed her anything like love. But she also knows that he has hurt her, and neglected her, and even left her bruised. On the other hand, who else does she have?

Zuko use to whine about everyone loving Azula so much.

It is almost pathetic how inaccurate his views are.

"Do you still want to marry her?" Katara asks softly and Azula stares for a moment, suddenly feeling feverish despite the cold nearly freezing her soaking hair.

"You ask a lot of questions," Azula says coldly and Katara shrugs.

"I want to know how much I can trust you," Katara admits and Azula must admit it is a reasonable goal.

"Well, if that trip down the mountain wasn't a trust fall, I don't know what is," Azula says, carefully dancing around genuine assessment of her loyalties.

They lie with herself and only herself.

Katara rubs her face. "Yeah. I... you did catch me and save me."

"I'm not _always _selfish," Azula purrs as she watches the fire. She makes it dance in an exotic blue, stunning and flickering, absorbing her thoughts away from the fact that she is trapped in the woods and wildly unhappy about it.

"You looked pretty angry when I mentioned my mother," Katara says and the fire briefly surges before quietly and coldly calming.

Azula gives Katara a reproachful glance that the waterbender could not expect.

"My mother died in childbirth," Azula lies, because it isn't as if the water peasants are ever going to find out the truth.

Suddenly, a thought that should have struck Azula long ago hits her like a punch in her already sore lips. She reaches into her shirt as Katara watches, baffled. Azula realizes that she took off her clothes and left them by the dim fire, and so she jumps up and walks over to them, starting to rifle through with no care for the confused girl staring at her.

Where is it? She had the papers about Avatar Roku stuffed into her shirt since she got them, and she constantly checked until Zhao decided to distract her and make her forget about anything but survival.

"What are you looking for?" Katara asks, sitting up and feeling the uncomfortable sensation of half-wet half-dry hair beating against her neck.

"Nothing," Azula says, swallowing. _Oh, fuck_. "Alright, you did save my life, and... I wanted your trust, as I said before we got captured by Zhao..."

"Yes?" Katara's heart thuds. She _knew _Azula and Ty Lee weren't fully honest. How could anyone from the Fire Nation be? But she sort of thought Sokka was just crazy to be so rabid about it, even if Aang was too lax.

"How would you like to join an alliance?" Azula inquires, turning to Katara and contemplating the idea of extending a symbolic hand.

"An alliance?" Katara cocks an eyebrow. "I don't get it. Isn't our whole group an alliance?"

"Do you honestly think that we all trust each other?" Azula asks with a small derisive laugh that makes Katara want to push her back into the loud river. "There will be an end, you know?"

"Yes, Aang will defeat the Fire Lord before the Civil War breaks out and ─"

"And you honestly believe that?" Azula asks with her arms gently crossed. "You saw me at Crescent Island.

"You shared that memory," Katara says softly, the memory easily slipping her mind after nearly being captured in that temple. "I don't understand, though. Why don't you want the war to end? Isn't that why you and Ty Lee came with us?"

Azula hesitates, still searching desperately for the lost page.

"I will gladly make sure that you make it to the end. That's all," Azula says and Katara does not like the look in Azula's eyes.

Katara at last says, "I'm thinking of that old parable I heard from Earth Kingdom rebels when I was younger. Where the spider-scorpion asks politely for a ride across the river on the back of a swan-ferret, but then the spider-scorpion stings the swan-ferret and they both drown."

"I don't have time to analyze the moral," Azula snarls as she starts searching under rocks as if that could possibly happen.

"The moral is that... well, that spider-scorpion was going to sting the swan-ferret whether either of them liked it or not."

"Well, that's a ridiculous story. People aren't _slaves _to their nature and desires. See Zhao, flailing after us like a lunatic? He could never rule or win anything because of that."

"But you have to understand why, from what I know about you and your family, that I feel kind of like that swan-ferret."

"If there was something that the spider-scorpion needed on the other side of the river that was more important than that sting, it would have restrained itself, and they would have made it across."

Katara purses her lips, contemplating that for a moment. She does nod in assent.

"I don't trust you, but I don't trust anyone much right now. You did help save me, and I helped save you, and I really doubt you're going to take me across the finish line..."

"But you're going to take my offer?"

"If the swan-ferret was more aware of the spider-scorpion on its back, it would have bucked it into the water before it stung."

Azula smirks. "You're smarter than I assumed. I did find information in the Dragonbone Catacombs, but I didn't trust you three enough to tell you yet. I am sure there are also things you were not prepared to confess."

"Yeah," Katara admits, shrugging despite her deep interest in the topic.

"I found the records of Avatar Roku's granddaughter," Azula says softly and Katara's jaw drops.

"_That _might have been slightly useful, trust or not!" Katara exclaims but Azula remains calm as she walks around the fire, chiaroscuro illuminating her, parts dark and light, and parts where they blend.

"My mother, is Avatar Roku's granddaughter."

Katara cannot fathom that at first. All she can see is, "That's... nice. But she's... you just said she died in childbirth."

"I am aware. But it could quite easily be interpreted as great granddaughter. I'm the one you're looking for," Azula says softly and Katara does not know what to say. "I'll show you the documents if you help me find them. I _need _them."

They search together, Katara eager and Azula frantic.

Maybe there is a slim connection between them; they reluctantly trust each other.

* * *

Birds are singing and the ocean is roaring at the camp of Ty Lee, Sokka and Aang.

Ty Lee wakes up to those beautiful sounds, but cannot enjoy them because she is frustrated about her separation from Azula. She feels the papers Azula gave her scraping against her chest beneath her light pink shirt. Ty Lee is uncertain what her next step would be if Azula is gone forever.

The only reason Ty Lee got involved in this game of thrones is because Azula gave her no other choice. And now? Now a respected member of Fire Nation society, who was happy in her life, is a fugitive. There will not be any second chances, Ty Lee is certain.

She breathes a soft sigh and sees her breath in the cold morning air. It feels strange, and her head is very dizzy. When did she last eat? She cannot even remember after neglecting the gross fish soup and icky nuts.

They call her a snob. She just doesn't want to eat grotesque food. Nor does she honestly have an appetite with so much on her mind.

Being led by Azula is so easy, so easy for her. The princess knows exactly what she is doing, at all times. And even if she doesn't, Ty Lee trusts that it will all work out in the end. It always does with Azula.

And _now_? And now she is left alone, and wishes she enjoyed independence.

She can hear Sokka and Aang bickering about how to find Azula and Katara, but Ty Lee is sleepy and careless, so she rolls back over, tucking Azula's scrolls tighter into her bra regardless.

* * *

"We passed that rock ten minutes ago," Azula sighs, unable to _handle _this complete frustration. They did not find Azula's papers, and now they cannot find the bridge Katara was certain led right to the merchant pier.

Katara just looks up at her, not having a single word to say to that. Save for probably a few insults, but Katara is too exhausted and frustrated to think of any good ones.

"Well, how do you suggest that we find the rest of our group?" Katara demands, fiercely crossing her arms.

They are interrupted by the sound of a twig cracking, and what Azula knows to be firebending. She shoves Katara's head down as the water peasant looks up, bewildered, ignoring the danger.

"Please start running," Azula snarls as she glances over her shoulder and sees her brother and Mai, the traitors. They are accompanied by a number of guards, and perhaps Azula could take them on a better day, but right now she can only run and hope for the best.

Azula and Katara do take off, as fast as their sore legs can carry them. No sleep, nearly dying three times; they might actually be outmatched. Princess Azula thinks for a moment about what will give her the best gain ─ high risk, high reward.

"Katara, slow down," Azula orders and the waterbender obeys. Stupid girl. "Katara, I know how we can escape, but you have to listen ─"

The trees rattle and burst into flames around Azula, and Katara is distracted.

She knows it is too late for Katara, and so Azula has put the last of her energy into a smoke screen that leaves Katara coughing and wheezing, and she runs towards the cliffs. Despite her awful experience with the last river she was in, Azula has no choice but to jump off.

She braces herself, and when the hits the water, she can only think of the cold. Her foggy mind is made alert as she claws herself to the surface and gasps for breath, rubbing her eyes as she searches for some kind of foothold.

It was likely wrong to leave Katara. _More than _likely wrong to leave her. But Azula had to make a choice, and she can hear the fight atop of the cliff as she swims with the current towards the shore. It might bite her, but Azula would rather live.

Even if she was starting to genuinely bond with the Water Tribe girl.

* * *

Katara is seized in the smoke, and she summons the slick water from the cliffs and tries to use it against the men. She beats most of the soldiers, but the girl with raven hair pins Katara to a tree by her shirt, the waterbender too shocked by the sudden trap to react in time.

The smoke slowly clears, and the soldiers begin to patrol the area.

"You have to have some rope, right?" Mai asks Zuko and he turns to her.

"Yeah. I just carry rope in my pockets," he says and Katara grimaces. This is most unpleasant.

"Zuko, go get rope from one of the better equipped soldiers," Mai calmly orders, and he does not hesitate to do so.

He must admit that having this girl in his clutches gives him hope that he could catch the Avatar as well. Zuko is, against better judgment, imagining the fanfare and joy of being crowned Fire Lord.

Mai looks at Katara, studying her with interest. Katara glares back, and Mai has to admit she likes the defiance in Katara's cobalt eyes. Mai reaches into her clothes and Katara braces herself to be stabbed, but she pulls out something much more frightening.

"That's my mother's! That's _mine _and it's not _yours_! Give it back!" Katara shouts so loudly that the entire island probably heard.

"You can have it back, if you cooperate," Mai says, bouncing it in her hand and watching her new prisoner scowl.

It is probably sick, but Mai does not mind. Zuko returns with the rope, and Katara is promptly and very angrily tied to a tree, spewing profane insults learned from the mouths of Earth Kingdom soldiers the entire time.

"Let's see if your friends show up," Zuko says and Mai looks at him.

Mai honestly has to admit that this side of Zuko is much sexier than the one she has been with. His sudden light and determination is undeniably attractive.

"I hope they do!" Katara snaps.

* * *

Azula is fished out of the water by a merchant. He helps her to her feet and she hastily thanks him before escaping as quickly as she can. Her wet clothes weigh her down and slap against her sticky skin, but she just keeps walking.

The trek through the forest seems fast, while the last one she took seemed to take place over infinity. When she gets there, it seems that they had still not left camp. Ty Lee is sitting by the fire and Aang is brushing Appa. Sokka is trying to think of a plan to get Katara back. But all of their heads snap up from their respective activities when they see Azula.

She has been thinking of her lie for the entire trip back. "I tried to help her, but we were outnumbered."

Azula's knees buckle quite convincingly, and Ty Lee runs to her. Their lips collide like an explosion of planets, and the acrobat kisses Azula a thousand times to make up for all of the ones that they have missed.

"Did you miss me?" Ty Lee whispers and Azula silently nods. The acrobat supposes that it is the best she can get.

"Tell us where Katara is!" Sokka demands and Azula turns to him.

"She was captured by Zhao's men. I think we can still rescue her, but right now we need to rest and scout out wherever she is being held," Azula says calmly. Sokka frowns, but he thinks she does have her head on straight.

"You should take a nap," Ty Lee says, stroking and twisting Azula's wet hair in her fingers. Azula likes it so much, and the tingling it gives her. But she is forced to write it off as hormonal surges, and not real love.

Leaving Katara behind saved Azula's life. And, to be honest, Azula thinks Ty Lee is the only person that she could not to do that too.

Neither boy protests to Azula and Ty Lee retreating to one of the already weathered tents and closing it. Ty Lee helps Azula out of her soaking clothes, her fingers straying to places that make both of them heat up.

"Where are my papers about Avatar Roku?" Azula whispers as Ty Lee spreads Azula's clothes and intends to take them by the fire. "I lost them."

Ty Lee blinks and reaches into her own bra. "I had them. Did you not know?"

Azula is silent. And so she let Katara into her alliance for no reason at all whatsoever. This is bad.

The rescue cannot happen.

Azula will not allow it.


	16. Chapter 16

Ty Lee is completely certain that she loved Azula first.

There was this _watching from afar _kind of thing, that was more than watching. They were so young, and Ty Lee belatedly realized that Azula was her very first crush. And Ty Lee fell _hard_.

Azula was interesting. She was so smart, and she was clever on top of that. Even though she was constantly guarded and under a watchful eye, and even though she was worked to the bone, she managed to come up with some quite fantastic adventures.

Most of them just happened on the palace grounds, but the best happened at fancy events and festivals, the two of them dressed like little glass dolls in fancy clothes, but up to games that were not real, but Ty Lee wished they were.

Azula is completely certain that Ty Lee was just an infatuation.

Even though Ty Lee was the only person in her childhood who made Azula's heart pound, and her palms sweat.

Ty Lee was the kind of person who always had rumors about her, and they were not the bad kind. But what could you expect from a person so desperate to have attention and stand out? And Ty Lee did stand out with her risks and erratic nature.

She was the type of person who joined the circus.

She was the type of person who Azula never would be able to be with.

They were too different.

Yet, here they are now, waking from a nap. The tent has a close to sheer material when the sun hits it just right, and it makes such beautiful patterns on their skin.

The two of them are engaged at this point, which was unexpected. Neither knew if they would like it, but right now, in this moment, in the wilderness sleeping beside each other, they think it could not be more perfect.

Azula might happen to like having a partner in her quest for the royal crown.

* * *

Meanwhile, Katara struggles against the tree.

It has been hours, and her friends still have not come looking for her. She is beginning to think that perhaps Azula did not make it back, which sends her into a panic she cannot explain.

Her bonds are tight, and her waterbending not nearly strong enough to manage this. She grits her teeth as she tries to lift up her feet and push off, but all she goes is scrape her heels on the bark. At least she does not think she has any splinters.

She can see the enemies around her. And she does begin to worry about what they might do to her. She does not think that, in any world, this can possibly end well. Her stomach churns with fear and concern as she looks for an escape, any way to escape.

The Fire Nation soldiers do not look like the ones she encountered in the Earth Kingdom. They all are well put together, and their armor is vaguely different. Less of a motley crew, Katara supposes. She is not sure if the dark haired girl with Katara's mother's necklace in her hand is the leader, or Zhao, the man who captured she and Azula, _but _she is well aware that they seem to be in a bit of a power struggle.

It is understandably slow. The dreadful girl is placid in a defiant, abrasive way, while Zhao is the exact opposite. She could tell that enough from the Agni Kai he had with Princess Azula, but it is even more evident now.

"I don't _want _this meaningless water girl," he growls as the teenage girl is immovable. "I _want _the Avatar and princess. If you _honestly _think that Azula is coming for her, you must be insane."

Mai shrugs. "She was traveling with them. Worth something even if we don't get Azula. Are you honestly that used to instant gratification? It's kind of depressing me."

"I'm _used _to people not calling me away from my ship ─ where I could have been watching for the Avatar ─ and told to come to this very _important _captive, but it's this useless waste of time," Zhao says, gesturing forcefully at Katara.

Katara scowls.

"We captured Azula with her." Mai shrugs again. "You can go back to your ship if you want. I don't care at all. Zuko and I are going to keep a nice watch over her, because we're certain that they'll come back for her."

Katara is beginning to be less certain about that.

But it _is _reassuring that even her enemies think that she will be rescued.

Well, Katara does not _want _rescue; she wants to save herself. Not that it seems to be a very likely situation right now.

* * *

Princess Azula, her fiancee, the Avatar and Sokka are walking through the overgrown island in order to track down Katara. Sokka hacks and slashes with his bone knife, the new one Katara got him, while Aang looks disconcerted about disrupting nature. Azula is simply locked in her own head, when not slapping mosquito-gnats off of her arms.

Azula knows that she has to, in some way sabotage the rescue. There is no getting around that fact. Or at least she must separate she and Ty Lee from the group as quickly as possible. Revealing her leg-up about Avatar Roku was the most foolish thing she has ever done, and she may wind up regretting it forever.

Of course she was starving, sunburned, soaked and likely to die of exposure, but it was still stupid of her. She does not _want _Katara to be part of her alliance. Not in the _slightest_.

And now the group demands that she show them the path to exactly where she and Katara were; unfortunately, it is not worth losing the trust of Sokka and Aang to misguide them. But hopefully Mai and Zuko are not idiots, and they have already taken Katara to somewhere unreachable.

Then again, if Katara is a trap, then...

"They might be using her as a trap," Azula says slowly as she takes three jumps up a slick rock wall and balances on the top. "I want to save her, but we can't risk Aang if they're a step ahead of us."

The princess steps back onto the damp soil and holds out a hand to help Ty Lee, and then, after brief contemplation, takes Aang's wrist as well, despite him being an airbender. Sokka refuses Azula, so she just purses her lips and turns on her heel.

"We rested by the river; I bet we can hear it from a mile away. It's huge and fast. There will be tracks of us leading to them, I'm certain," Azula explains before licking her lips and quickly trying to think of an easy sabotage by the river.

Drowning them actually sounds like a pleasant idea to her, despite her desperate need for the Avatar. She laughs quietly to herself after she thinks about Katara's little fable story about putting all of your trust in an untrustworthy person.

That was her fatal flaw; she thought the best in people.

How incredibly cute.

The river is surprisingly easy to locate, and therefore Princess Azula has less time to think about her plans than she would like. Sokka and Aang immediately set out, finding the charred remains of Azula and Katara's fire, and studying the beaten paths going every which way from the campsite.

_That _is Azula's plan.

"Ty Lee, come help me remember which of these I took," Azula snaps, grabbing her fiancee by the hand and making sure that their two companions heard her.

Azula treads carefully over the thick brush. Autumn is coming, oddly enough, and there are sparse streaks of red and gold in the trees and plants. And the cold is very evident, which gives Ty Lee quite the excuse to press herself as tightly to Azula as possible.

"What do you remember about which one you took?" Ty Lee asks brightly, squinting at the many diverging paths into shadowy thickets of trees.

"I remember it exactly. But we can't let them find Katara, and you know it," Azula says sharply and Ty Lee frowns.

The acrobat has been thinking about the possible addition of Katara since Azula brought it up last night while they were alone in bed. While Azula seems to think it is a fatal mistake, Ty Lee personally likes the idea of having someone a rung below her in the team.

Maybe Azula loves her, but Azula would certainly sacrifice things she loved if it meant she could win the game of politics.

"I think we should save Katara," Ty Lee whispers and Azula's eyes widen in shock at the treasonous words. "Think about it. If you save her, and if you invited her into an alliance, there might be a chance that she could be really useful. And expendable too."

"She won't betray her brother or the Avatar," Azula snaps, having made up her mind.

Ty Lee rubs her lips with her fingers. "I'm not so sure. I think she's just almost as driven and ambitious as you. Except she doesn't really want the same thing at all.

Azula does suddenly recall Katara's words right before Zhao captured them:_ "I'm angry, and I'm always angry, honestly. I close my eyes and see the man who killed my mother, and the only way I can make it go away is by imagining killing him. The thing is, I'm less angry at the Fire Nation than at my own friends and allies. The Fire Nation is just a blur, not a country but a thing. The people who told me my bending was useless and I was helpless had faces. The faces of people I loved."_

That makes Azula hesitate about her plan to be rid of Katara.

"I might agree with you," Azula says and Ty Lee is ecstatic about it. "I think in this war, everyone has a dark side."

Ty Lee conniving alongside Azula is a testament to that.

* * *

Azula guides Sokka, Aang and Ty Lee across the proper direction that she and Katara walked. She can find footprints, little traces of two girls interrupting the wild and untamed nature of the island.

"Stop," Azula whispers, holding up a hand and peering over the side of the ledge.

There they are. Katara is bound to a tree and attempting to figure out how to escape at all costs. Zuko paces amongst the other soldiers. Mai is... _different_. Azula does not like the look in her friend's eyes. And Zhao, of course, is shouting at someone.

"How do we take them on?" Sokka asks quietly. He has always believed in himself as a warrior, but he is not sure about this.

"Didn't you work for the rebels in the Earth Kingdom?" Azula demands, glaring at him. "You must have executed a _few _ambushes at least."

"Uh, yeah..." Sokka's neck muscles tense.

They watch for a long time, all four of them becoming more antsy by the minute. The need to strike and rescue the now exhausted Katara is swelling even within Azula and Ty Lee, but Azula is watching the soldiers' patterns, and all four are waiting for nightfall, when they can spring a sneak attack without being in broad daylight and easy targets.

"Alright, you and I will go for Katara," Azula says softly to Sokka. "The Avatar and I should stay separate at all times. We can't risk both being caught. Aang, you can use your bending to an advantage. They won't be expecting it at all, and the minute Katara is free, I need a cloud cover of dust."

Aang and Sokka nod, unable to disagree with that plan. While Sokka does not trust Azula, he does think she knows what she is doing right now, and he needs to save Katara.

"Ty Lee, you make sure we don't get swarmed," Azula whispers and Ty Lee nods.

As the sky finally darkens, the group of companions sets out to do their job. Azula jumps down and immediately starts running, moving as quietly as she can. Sokka _clomps_, and Azula is beginning to wonder just how good of a rebel he even was. He certainly talks big for someone who seems to have no experience with a basic ambush.

"Katara," Sokka hisses and Azula covers his mouth.

He then realizes how stupid it was for him to do that. It isn't like him, but, then again, he has never been faced with the Fire Nation catching his sister before.

Katara wakes up, although she had no idea that she was sleeping. She squints through the darkness and the shadow of the tree to see Azula and Sokka. They _came back_. Katara _knew _they would and she could hug all of them.

Azula slashes right through the bonds with a swift burst of blue fire, and Sokka helps Katara away from the tree.

For a brief moment, Azula thinks that perhaps they can escape the camp without even rousing an alarm. The sentinels seem to be very distracted, and the tents are perfectly silent.

Or so she believed, until she trips slightly on a rock, and while she does lightly catch herself, a _crunch _rings out when her foot lands on a stick. Father would be livid and ashamed if he knew about that, and Azula is petrified as she hears the ringing of a bell after the watchmen become very aware of the teenagers in their camp.

"Aang!" Azula shouts as Ty Lee quickly puts a stop to two soldiers running at the trio.

The Avatar snaps to attention and makes the promised cloud cover of dust. Katara chokes and coughs, and Azula loses sight of where she is.

"Get to the cliff over the water," Azula says as she pushes on Katara and Sokka and starts going towards where she thinks it is.

The dust begins to settle before they find the cliff-side, and Azula turns to find an alternate escape when her sleeve is caught by a blade. _No, no, no_...

She kicks up her leg over her shoulder and pushes off, tearing the side of her shirt as she kicks away another throwing star.

Mai, Mai who should _join_ Azula, not be fighting her.

Katara and Sokka find the cliff and Katara glances over her shoulder at Azula fighting endless blades with fire. She thinks of helping her friend, and then of her mother's necklace still being here, but Sokka pulls her towards their escape, and Katara jumps.

Azula is still locked in combat with Mai when Ty Lee finally moves past the endless assault on her and punches the arm about to throw another arrow. All three of them exchange a breathless glance, wondering just how it came to be this way, but then Aang creates another cloud of dust, and Azula and Ty Lee run to the cliff and dive off without a second thought.

They plunge into the ice cold water, and Azula reaches the surface, gasping for breath. She can see the two bodies of the water peasants, and she can see the Avatar jumping off and following, using his airbending to soften the fall.

Perhaps they are pursued, but they run back to camp without looking back.

* * *

Katara helps everyone with their wet clothes, and finds her needle and thread to fix Azula's sleeve as they all sit around the fire. Sokka is trying very, very hard not to look at the girl in her underwear sitting on the lap of the other girl in her underwear, both of them dripping wet from the river. He glances at Aang and is baffled by how the kid doesn't even notice.

"Azula," Katara says. "Can you come show me the way the seams go?"

No one else in the group knows how little sense Katara's request makes, but Azula is certain that Katara doesn't want to talk sewing.

"Yes?" Azula whispers as she joins her at the edge of camp.

"Thank you for saving me," Katara says honestly and Azula feels a rush of excitement. Katara has no clue about Azula's betrayal. "Are we... is our alliance still together?"

"You don't want to stay loyal to your brother and the Avatar?" Azula purrs, although she already knows the answer.

"I'm not loyal to you, or Ty Lee. But I think you guys are going to be way more helpful in getting to the North Pole and avenging my people than those two." Katara's cobalt eyes sparkle with honesty and Azula smiles faintly at her.

"Of course."

* * *

Near the very end of their long, sleepless night, Ty Lee sits with Azula as Katara stitches the princess's torn sleeve, and Sokka and Aang prepare for their departure at daybreak. The danger is even more severe than they thought, and another altercation with Zhao is the last thing they want.

"Have you talked to Katara about the alliance?" Ty Lee asks quietly, her eyes focused on Azula. "I think that's important."

"It doesn't matter yet," Azula says, letting her eyes wander carelessly. "She did thank me for rescuing her, but now it's quiet between us."

"I think we should make sure she's on our side," Ty Lee whispers.

Azula contemplates it for a moment and then sighs.

"Stop your silly thinking and come with me to bed," Azula replies and Ty Lee gazes at her for a moment before standing up and walking with her to their tent.

Ty Lee does, somehow, manage to rest. She knows she is glad to be with Azula again, close to her. Azula does not quite smell like herself anymore; she smells of forest and mud, but she does feel like herself, and Ty Lee just needs that to be content.

Azula, on the other hand, needs much more than a girlfriend to be happy.

She needs _a country._

* * *

Azula wakes first, as usual, despite all of them only getting about fifteen minutes of sleep. She starts the fire up again, although it is still gently burning. Her eyes are still fuzzy from what amounted to be a short nap. She sees Aang preparing their belongings to load up Appa, and she assumes that they are leaving the island. _That _is the wisest move they could ever make, after their just _lovely _interaction with Zhao.

Katara is awake as well, and Azula looks up at her. The princess cannot find the words to say. She just knows she needs to make small talk, to ignore the _alliance _she proposed, and hope that the thought just goes away. Perhaps Katara has even forgotten after her brush with death.

"So where are we off to now?" Azula asks quietly, refusing to meet Katara's eyes.

"The Earth Kingdom, I guess. And then to the North Pole." Katara smiles faintly, and Azula smirks for another reason.

She is so, so glad they are going to try to cross to the North Pole stopping in the Earth Kingdom. That will most certainly work to Azula's advantage.

The Earth Kingdom will give plenty of opportunities for Azula to seize what is hers. It will _also _make it much more difficult for them to be pursued. And, people don't recognize their princess across the pond.

Perfect.

Good.

Things are working out for Azula again, and she is relieved and happy.

* * *

Mai sits with Zhao on the ship as they prepare to follow the Avatar and princess to the Earth Kingdom. She is cautiously drinking wine and listening to him, listening to how much he underestimates her. It certainly makes her plans against him much easier.

"So, what will you do when you get Azula and the Avatar?" Mai inquires without any intonation revealing the reason behind her question.

She looks through the shadows at this man, the one she feels the need to gauge. Azula was not lying about the journal she found, and Mai is very suspicious of him. All the same, he has no restraint and is far too hotheaded to be a _real _threat.

It is just Ozai's ridiculous and misplaced trust in Zhao that makes him dangerous in Mai's eyes.

"I want only what everyone else with any ambition does these days. The throne."

"Why would you tell me that?" Mai's lips twitch, something Zhao has never seen before.

"Because it must be obvious to you. I won't play games. But I do know that I am the most qualified person for power over the Fire Nation. The Avatar makes me a hero, the princess uses her charm to sway the people in my favor ─"

"And why exactly would she ever do that?" Mai asks in genuine disbelief.

"She will have no choice." Zhao is so _confident _about his ability to dominate others.

Clueless, that man.

Mai finds his delusions and egomania kind of funny.

* * *

The journey is long for everyone. Several days pass as summer becomes autumn and Appa flies, and Zhao's ship relentlessly crosses the sea.

At long last, both parties arrive in the Earth Kingdom, but in very different places.

* * *

"They are fantastic," Zhao says assuredly and Mai is unimpressed.

Well, nothing impresses her, but the Yuyan Archers have absolutely nothing on her. They docked at the nearest fortress possible, and Zhao has decided to collect any of the resources that he can manage.

"I think we could do better on our own." But Mai lets him burn himself.

She has more important plans, and she refuses to let him manage his coup.

Zhao is not born to lead. True power, true charisma and a magnetic personality are not things you can aggressively shove your way into having.

They are something you are born with.

Which is why he wants to use Azula.

Which is also why he will never succeed at using Azula.

Leave that up to Mai and Zuko.

* * *

Two weeks pass, and the Avatar's four friends are sick.

Azula hates being sick and she does not handle it well. She is used to being waited on hand and foot when she has so much as a stuffy nose, but right now, she is feverish and overwhelmed by malaise, a cough, any symptoms Azula can think of that she has never had to face.

"You are completely responsible for this," Azula chokes to Ty Lee, whom she is resting her head on the shoulder of.

"How am I responsible for this?" Ty Lee whines, although her voice is hoarse and her throat sore.

"You kissed me. You should have known you were getting sick before you kissed me," Azula snarls before breaking into a vicious coughing fit.

Katara and Sokka fell prey to it as well, despite the fact that they are nowhere near as crippled as Azula and Ty Lee, and now they are hiding in a cave. Azula is in a cave, and she has a fever, and she is dreadfully sick.

Just put her out of her misery now, _please_.

Aang leaves to go find medicine, in a panic. Ty Lee drifts to sleep wrapped in Azula, their sweat combined into one.

"You don't have any immunities to Earth Kingdom diseases," Katara explains as she settles down by Azula and Ty Lee. She sneezes fiercely, and knows she probably needs some medicine too, but those girls are in a much worse state. "There's a lot of bad sickness here, and I don't think you have much of that in Caldera. Me and Sokka got really sick when we first joined the rebels with our dad."

Azula just closes her eyes.

She hates the Earth Kingdom.


	17. Chapter 17

Aang knows that he needs to get medicine for Azula and Ty Lee. They will die if he doesn't.

Katara and Sokka too, of course. But they seem to be doing _way _better. He runs as fast as he can towards the herbalist's shop he had seen in the mountains as they traveled. At the time, Azula and Ty Lee were already beginning to cough up phlegm, and so Aang made mental note of it, something he is eternally grateful for now.

When he arrives, he knocks on the door ferociously. There is no response. He frowns as he gently opens the door and hopes that no one will mind his intrusion.

What he finds is a girl, on the young side and dressed in faded red clothes, asleep in a chair. Or, at least, Aang hopes she is asleep.

"Hello?" he asks quietly, shuffling in. His heart pounds as he hopes that she will wake up.

And she does. Thankfully, she does.

"You...? Do you need something?" she slurs as she rubs the sleep out of her eyes. She opens and closes them a few times before looking up at Aang.

"My friends are really sick," Aang says before quickly launching into a lengthy explanation of their symptoms. She waits patiently for him to finish.

"Oh, I know that. It got really bad around here when people still lived in the village," the girl says, standing up and stretching her back.

"When people still lived in the village?" Aang asks and the girl nods as she goes to find a scroll.

"The Fire Nation came in two or three years ago and mined and logged everything. The villagers were cheap labor. Then it ran dry, and the villagers wound up as slaves."

"You're still here?" Aang asks quietly, trying to ignore the guilt that is twisting inside of him about it.

"I've been making sure that there are enough meds to go around to the Fire Nation soldiers in the Pohai Stronghold. It's really close to here. Just a couple miles that way." She gestures loosely before finding the scroll that she was looking for. She passes it to Aang. "This is a picture. You need to go to the lake and get these frogs. They're frozen right now to hibernate."

"... and?" Aang cocks an eyebrow.

"Your friends need to suck on them."

Aang makes an aghast sound and the girl laughs very hollowly. "_SUCK ON THEM_?"

"Yup." And the girl just smirks her chapped lips.

"Uh, I guess if I have to!" Aang says as perkily as he can, although he is about to start retching.

Saving his friends will happen, sucking on frogs or not.

* * *

Back in the dim, dank cave, Azula has fast become delirious from her fever, while Ty Lee is just out like a lamp. The princess has no idea where she is, or whose hot arms she is wrapped so tightly in. But Katara watches, tending the small fire in the damp cave as Sokka studies a very poorly drawn and faded map.

"Mother," whispers Azula and Katara perks up. Ty Lee is still fast asleep, making small snoring noises that remind Katara of a congested kitten. "Not you..."

Katara slowly walks to her, grabbing the water she and Sokka had collected from the falling rain. It seems pure enough, even though Katara has not broiled it yet. She will just have to hope for the best.

Azula's eyes, clearly deep in a dream despite being open, fixate on Katara.

"Here," Katara whispers, trying to ease the water towards Azula's chapped lips.

"No," rasps Azula and Katara hesitates, unsure what to do. "I know it's poison... I know what you did..."

Katara breathes, "I've...? I've never poisoned anybody."

Azula shivers as the heat of her fever becomes ice cold. The rain and frigid temperature does not make it any better. She looks wan and dreadful, and Katara thinks she might be living in a nightmare that feels like it exists.

"I know what you did..." and she falls silent after that.

Katara manages to get her to drink the water as she drifts away. Throughout her sleep, as she lies against Appa, wrapped in Ty Lee, she murmurs about her mother. Again and again and again. Katara recalls Azula's reaction on the top of the cliffs while they were lost on the island.

About her mother. About Katara's mother too.

_I know what you did_.

It is disconcerting, to say the least.

* * *

Mai and Zuko sit in the Pohai Stronghold, alone in a small, dimly lit room. The lantern hanging from the ceiling is dripping wax, just slightly. The two lovers stare at each other and attempt to strike up small talk, despite their situation.

At last, Mai feels comfortable revealing what she learned from Zhao the other night.

"I think Zhao is planning a coup," Mai whispers and Zuko's eyes flash.

"What makes you think that?" Zuko demands fiercely and Mai purses her lips.

"A sparrowkeet told me," Mai answers and Zuko breaths out in frustration. He _hates _how she has been acting since the throne has decided to be up for grabs. "I asked him his intentions with the Avatar, and may have had him in a susceptible state. He wants to use the Avatar, and he wants to use Azula and how popular she is among the citizens to keep power."

Zuko shakes his head. "I bet a thousand people would cut off their right arm for the throne."

"You've seen Zhao. I think he's a worst competition outside of Azula herself. I also think he's going to bide his time, until after he uses Azula and gets the trust of handing over the Avatar."

"That sounds like him," Zuko has to admit before frowning. "Azula would never agree to that."

"Azula would do absolutely anything. He _needs _her for his own power. She's a phenomenal asset. Why else would he be so angry about the engagement?" Mai hesitates. "We need the Avatar and Azula on our own, no matter the cost."

"Because Azula will play along so nicely with us..."

"We'll figure something out. But Zhao cannot get her or the Avatar."

"I do agree with that," Zuko admits, however, sighing. Mai has this dark ambition in him that he did not know was there before now.

It is attractive, on one hand. But, on the other... it frightens him. He does not like to see her this way, not one bit.

* * *

Aang frantically gathers the frogs, shoving them into any pockets that his clothes have. His outfit is half Fire Nation party and half Air Nomad uniform, and so the array of pockets are in a _lot _of weird places. He is almost done, and is turning to leave when suddenly, an arrow whizzes past him.

And then more. He quickly deflects them with his staff and backflips away from where he was standing. Aang expects the dark-haired girl who had been pursuing he and his friends alongside Zhao, but it is a whole team of archers.

_That _is a little bit troubling. Aang starts running, dodging every arrow that comes at him. He cannot believe this is happening, and he is completely terrified. The Avatar jumps up a tree and leaps over it, losing a few frogs on his way.

He breathes in shallowly and sharply as he realizes that he lost some of the cure that Azula desperately needs. The chase lasts for a long while before Aang is at last brought down by the Yuyan Archers.

His eyes fade into darkness as he realizes that the dart that hit him was coated in sedatives.

* * *

When Aang at long last comes to, he has his wrists bound and his eyes fixated on the stone floor.

This place must have been where the herbalist was talking about. A Fire Nation military base, which is the last place that the Avatar ever wanted to end up. It _can't _happen. He couldn't even imagine it happening in his wildest nightmares.

He didn't ever think he would be in a situation like this. It feels awful to be captured by these people, but it feels worse that he wouldn't be able to heal his friends now. Maybe they will think he betrayed them, like he did before.

That idea, Aang cannot bear. When the world needed him most, he vanished. When a comet destroyed the Earth Kingdom, and a comet before that killed all of his people, he was not there. It fills him with so much shame, and it seems, right now, that the princess and his friends are the only people who can help him make up for what he did.

Maybe especially Azula. His heart skips a beat as he starts thinking about the fact that he is thinking about her too much. He knows that he's twelve, and she's sixteen, and that she's so in love with Ty Lee ─ which Aang thinks is beautiful ─ but he also can't help but have that weird warm fuzzy feeling about her.

Zhao is a horrible man. Aang doesn't ever think anybody is horrible. That is why he has all those weird feelings around Azula; because he thinks there is good in her that no one can even fathom, even herself.

But Zhao seems to only want to destroy.

And now Aang has become a weapon.

It is a fate worse than death for an Air Nomad.

* * *

Zuko is relaxing in his bed when suddenly someone enters.

"Zhao has the Avatar," Mai says sharply as she walks into Zuko's room, her footsteps clanging against the thick metal floors.

Zuko's jaw is slack with disbelief. He cannot comprehend how Zhao _actually _caught the Avatar, but Mai would not be lying about this. While her expression is stoic, her eyes are panicked.

Admiral Zhao is one step closer to finding Azula, and a large leap closer to being able to execute his coup. Fire Lord Zhao sounds like the worst combination of three words that Zuko has ever heard.

His eyes drift towards the mask and broadswords that he has been clutching for a very long time. They have a history with him, back before he was allowed into the Fire Nation again by his father. And... he thinks he might make more history with them now.

"He's here?" Zuko clarifies and Mai nods.

"Stop him," Mai orders, even though she could do just as good of a job with her own combat.

It makes Zuko feel concerned for a moment that she is on Zhao's side. But mistrust of Mai is ridiculous right now, and Zuko knows the Avatar _must _be set free to avoid Zhao getting what he wants ─ the throne.

"So, it's on me to stop Zhao from taking my rightful throne and marrying my sister?" Zuko inquires, even though he already knows the answer.

"I'll help you," Mai says honestly and Zuko trusts her, despite the eerie feeling of her perhaps being against him and not for him.

Slowly, he picks up his old mask and old weapons, back from when he used to fight against the Fire Nation secretly. Still, no one knows about that part of his past. Even Mai.

He examines the dark blue and white mask in his hands, turning it from side to side so that the shadows and light illuminate it. Zuko knows what he is about to do is probably treason, but he also has no intention of letting Zhao win in the game to become Fire Lord.

Zuko finds his swords and looks to Mai. "Here goes nothing."

With a mask yet, he begins the slow movement through the stronghold as Mai walks to keep Zhao from making his speech or looking for Aang again. Zuko thinks she can handle that ─ unless she is going to tell Zhao that Zuko has flipped sides.

The soldiers think nothing of Zuko being with them, and so he slowly steps into the holding cell of the Avatar after a few exchanged words. Aang looks up at him and Zuko feels pity for the child in chains.

"What do you want?" Aang demands and Zuko bites his lower lip. "What?"

The duress in the Avatar's tone is evident, and Zuko truly does wish he could help him more, despite the fact that Zuko intends to use the Avatar at some point, as soon as he frees him from Zhao.

Zuko puts on his mask and breaks the Avatar's chains.

He recoils and stumbles as frogs come jumping out, hopping and _ribbeting _to their hearts' content.

"Those are for my friends," Aang explains, scratching his head.

Zuko is wordless as he beckons for Aang to follow him.

* * *

Aang sits down as Zuko removes his mask and lets it hang loosely from his fingertips. The trees are dripping still, but the rain has passed. They ran, and Zuko helped Aang for some reason. The Avatar is honestly unsure who is on what side in this weird and complicated web of enemies.

And Zuko he is most curious about.

"Why are you sitting around? Get out of here and take my sister," Zuko orders and Aang furrows his brow.

He is not sure if Zuko is a good guy or not. But, honestly, Aang is not sure of that with anybody these days.

"Why did you free me?" Aang asks quietly and Zuko shakes his head. "Please tell me."

"Because it's a game and you're the most important piece. I'm not letting an idiot like Zhao get you or Azula." Zuko clenches his jaw after that. It feels like trying to shoo away a cat trying to eat food out of his mouth.

"... it's a game?" Aang asks and his innocence is already annoying instead of refreshing.

"Yes. Now don't get caught again." _Until I catch you_.

Aang hesitates before he realizes his friends and the danger they might be in. The herbalist could absolutely tell the Fire Nation about his visit. And so Aang sighs and stands up, floating on the air briefly before his feet touch the ground.

"Thank you," Aang says as he slowly walks towards the pond to harvest more frogs.

Zuko just shakes his head.

"You're a fool to thank me."

But Aang is already gone.

* * *

Zhao is pacing angrily, his fists clenched and smoking. Mai sits, void of expression, and taps her fingers on the table. Zuko's heart is pounding out of control, but he tries to keep a handle on his anxiety.

"The Blue Spirit got in _here_? Into this _stronghold_?" Zhao snarls at last. "And I thought he was dead. The Earth Kingdom said he stopped fighting the Fire Nation here long ago."

Zuko frowns.

But Mai says, counter intuitively, "Clearly somebody let him in. It looks like you have a traitor in your midst."

Zhao's eyes glow like livid embers.

* * *

Azula nearly kills them all when the campfire suddenly turns a vibrant blue and licks the ceiling.

"YOU MADE ME EAT FROGS? You horrid, disgusting, savages! I will have your...!" and she rants continuously as Ty Lee frantically looks for something to give her to clean her mouth.

Because Ty Lee knows Azula is not going to stop giving a tirade and spewing violent threats until she is abetted.

Sokka has to hold back his laughter, and Aang does too.

Even though she is actually pretty scary.

* * *

Katara confronts Azula after they land Appa and start making their way through forest number one million. The leaves crunch lightly under their feet as they linger behind the group. Azula is still viciously angry about the frog thing, and she does not seem pleased with anyone in the group. Somehow even Ty Lee.

"You had fever hallucinations," Katara states and Azula shrugs loftily. She doesn't care in the slightest. "You were talking about your mom."

Azula stops dead in her tracks and Katara doubles backwards.

"Don't speak about my mother." Azula is firm in that, but Katara crosses her arms.

"You aren't _princess _of us," Katara snaps. "You ran away and that was your choice. You kept saying that you knew what she did."

Azula actually does not know what that could mean. There could be many things she would say in her sleep about her mother, but that is not one of them.

"As a _friend_, don't speak about my mother." Azula speeds ahead of Katara and latches onto Ty Lee.

Katara frowns. She _will _find out what makes Azula tick if it is the last thing she does.

* * *

The forest is endless and labyrinthine, and they cannot stop bickering about everything and nothing.

"You know what we need?" Sokka declares as the group gets into another ridiculous squabble. Azula is starting to wish she had just handed them all to Zhao. Marrying him would actually be preferable to dealing with _these _idiots for a moment longer. "A leader. See, we're kind of like a tribe, and a tribe needs a chief."

"I vote for Azula," Ty Lee calls out and Sokka looks at her as if she has just betrayed him.

Katara uneasily eyes things. While she is very strongly against _Sokka _being leader, she also is not keen on the idea of it being one of the Fire Nation girls. But then Azula gives her that _look_. That _alliance _look and Katara just shrugs.

She decides to try a loophole by saying, "Why do we even need a leader? None of this would be improved by us having a leader."

"I agree. It's better just to go with the flow," Aang says happily and Sokka clenches his jaw. This was not what he was trying to suggest.

But before he can argue, or Azula and Ty Lee can force Katara's vote, they are left speechless by what is in front of them.

"What is this?" Katara whispers.

The peaceful, colorful forest has abruptly come to an end, and all the can be seen is ashes, steel and a landscape of enemies.

* * *

_**AN: **__I feel like I've been talking about shipping way too much in these notes, but I want to mention why I changed Aang's crush from Katara to Azula. It mostly has to do with the shift in personalities, and Aang's subconscious desire to prove that the Fire Nation has good people in it too. It's something I think would fit well with my canon divergence. _

_Of course, he won't end up with either of them because the age difference is just __**way**__ too much. If he does wind up with a ship, which he current doesn't have since I don't think it's necessary for every character to have a romance, it would likely be Taang._

_Also, while I'm using some canon episodes right now (The Blue Spirit, currently Jet's episode) it's mostly to give glimpses of how the world has truly changed, and this won't at all just be a retelling of canon taking place post-comet instead of pre-comet, I promise._

_Thanks much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. _


	18. Chapter 18

_**AN: **This is the longest chapter I've ever written in ever. Woah._

* * *

The forest looming before the motley crew sprawls out before them like a vision of their own deaths. Katara wets her lips with her tongue as she studies the way the forest disappeared, and the way that they have all been careless enough to fall into a trap. All there is for miles is metal, ash and ruins of old Earth Kingdom towns. The construction sites packed with Fire Nation soldiers are countless, and Katara cannot imagine she and her friends making it out of this alive.

Needless to say, she is unhappy about this. And nobody else is thrilled either.

This forest bottlenecked directly into enemy territory. And they were foolish enough to not scout ahead before walking back in. Appa was tired, they landed, and everyone forgot to check and make sure that they were stumbling into something like this.

And said tired bison is very unhappy about it, and Azula looks at the sky beast in utter frustration. _Appa hates tunnels_, Aang said about the only way around the forest that wasn't ceaseless rivers, mountains and the most powerful fortresses the Fire Nation has.

And Appa is _definitely _going to draw the attention and artillery of every single person going across. Marvelous.

"We have to get past them," Sokka says quietly, knowing that it is the only choice they have. Turning around isn't an option, not when Zhao and his freaky archers and freakier girl and scarred dude have been following their _every _step since the Fire Nation. "Appa can fly over, right? He isn't afraid of empty clearings like he is of tunnels, right?"

Scathing. And annoying.

Aang sighs. "He's really tired right now."

"So are all of us," Sokka snarls and Aang furrows his brow, hurt by the statement. "We're flying."

Aang nods. He likes that idea, even if he is a bit worried about Appa.

* * *

Appa being tired did not help the situation the group ends up in. But the true cause of it is Zhao's men and huge cannons behind them and to the sides. Every time they tried to veer around the forest and get to the rivers for the more difficult crossing, they suddenly faced barrages of arrows that Aang barely airbended away. One ripped off Ty Lee's sleeve, and would have hit her heart if Appa didn't swerve.

Azula is clutching her now, not feeling embarrassed in the slightest, somehow. They find a place to land after _again _having explosives shot at them, despite the feeble attempt at cloud cover.

But they are safe, for now. There were huge ruins to the left, and oddly and eerily enough, there is no Fire Nation patrol there.

"We can walk through those woods. They're creepy... but..." She gestures at Aang pulling arrows out of Appa on the verge of tears. "Or, we can cross there. It's shadowy and there aren't as many construction sites. A huge fortress is right through, if I remember right. But we can pull it off if you all listen to me. Then we fly over the Western River, and go as far as we can until we find a forest that isn't trying to kill us."

"We, uh... agree," Sokka admits, glancing between Katara and Aang to make sure of their assent

Azula sighs and gazes out at the long stretch of Fire Nation camps through the golden leaves, and over the useful blockades of crumbling rock and decimated homes. There is not much here, but enough to wait until they have the cover of shadows.

"I can probably get us through, once night falls," Azula says slowly, examining the flags and the type of equipment. She does not have to best view, but she can tell that it is not an expensive operation.

"Good," Katara says, but Azula is not finished.

"_However_, in combat, what I say goes. I can't afford for any of you to be harmed. If I give an order, you just might survive." Azula repeats her horrid habit of just walking away after speaking so that no one can argue with her demands.

Albeit, this is what Azula is best at. She and Ty Lee were both trained as soldiers, and Katara and Sokka have some ragtag rebel experience, but nothing compared how well those two would handle a feat like this.

There is no place to hide on their path, and the only option is to press forward at all costs.

* * *

That afternoon, they do not light a fire. All they do is pick at nuts for food, and Azula doubts they are at all nourished enough to manage any grand feats of strength. Even with the Avatar on her side, Azula strongly doubts that this group could ever pull off a ground assault.

Stealth is the only way that they will make it through the forest and to the other side. Hopefully, they don't run into anybody. Likely, given their luck, they all will.

Katara declares, "We should all sleep for a couple hours, at least. I know we need cover before the sun comes up, but we also have been walking since last night."

Maybe she is being selfish due to her own exhaustion, but, to be honest, she does not care one bit.

Ty Lee moves to Azula, the shadows hiding her briefly before she kisses her fiancée's neck. Azula hates how good it feels, and she loathes herself for taking this girl by the wrist and pulling their lips more tightly together.

"I want to talk to you," Ty Lee says as their lips break apart, and Azula feels... _dejected_ about the fact that Ty Lee had no desire to kiss her or touch her. It is just another way to conceal their ceaseless plotting.

"I don't want to connive tonight," Azula says honestly and Ty Lee's eyes widen in shock. "I have my hands full with getting through this crossing."

Ty Lee sits down near her. "Do we have anything to talk about?"

Azula licks her lips and thinks it over. No, in truth... they don't.

"I wish I knew you better," Azula says quietly, the words slipping out before she could stop them.

It makes Ty Lee's eyes fixate on her feet. "I feel the same way."

"Well, we will have plenty of time to get to know each other when you are my Fire Lady," Azula says coldly and the moment is killed. Ty Lee supposes she should not have expected any more than that.

But they still do sit there in silence until Ty Lee scrounges up the courage to speak.

"Are you just... Why would you even marry me? The only thing we have... I mean after I left for the circus, and I came back before the comet and everything was so different. The only thing that's tying us together is the fact that we're tangled in this political mess," Ty Lee stammers and Azula is very quiet and expressionless. "What do we even have other than that? Once we don't have to fight anymore..."

Azula stares until she realizes her eyes are dry and sore.

"We used to like each other lot."

"When we were like _twelve_," Ty Lee insists and Azula suddenly realizes it.

She is no longer the one holding the romance above Ty Lee's head. Azula spurned her and led her on for too long and now Ty Lee has no more patience or energy to return affection.

"It seems to be a curse of humanity that no two people feel the same way for each other at the same time." Azula has no more to say, but she does not move.

Ty Lee gazes after her, forlorn. "Have you ever wanted anything in your life except the crown?"

Azula hesitates. "I want the crown because it unlocks everything else I want. I can have time for those things later."

"What things?" Ty Lee asks skeptically and Azula does not know.

She does not _know_.

"Maybe this," Azula whispers, and she gently touches her hand to Ty Lee's waist.

She is somewhat hesitant for someone who wanted to _claim_ Ty Lee, but Azula does not stop herself from pressing her lips against Ty Lee's again, and Ty Lee pulls her shirt out from under Azula's hands. Ty Lee just moves closer and closer, even though she knows it will all crumble once the competition for the crown is won and the civil war ended or averted.

But her hands creep up Azula's back, slipping towards her shoulders. Azula is trying to control her breathing but is having a quite difficult time. Ty Lee is in the same position. And then Ty Lee remorselessly removes Azula's shirt as well, and although the night is so cold without a fire, they both are very, very warm.

Azula's arm wraps around Ty Lee's waist, now certain and proprietary, and her free hand twists into Ty Lee's loose locks of hair that are not contained by the halfhearted braid. This moment should last forever, but she cannot, and so she focuses on the smoothness of her skin, the way her lips burn like fire, and the insistence and desperation from a girl who can conquer the world but is conquered by a glimpse of this.

It is not a bad night.

Even if they both are still confused.

* * *

Zhao has just received good news. The forest stretch that was guarded and blocked off due to so many ambushes and attacks has now been stumbled right into by those teenagers. _Teenagers _who keep eluding him.

He immediately makes plans, and those plans include a very small, elite team to slip in. Zuko is nowhere near _elite_, but Mai is evidently the type of person he needs for such a delicate mission. He gives them two or three Yuyan Archers and some _good _firebenders unlike the prince, and there is no way she will return empty handed.

Mai listens to him and her mind is churning with ideas. Most of all, the idea of leaving him and taking Zuko with her. She is not sure how it would work out, and she is very reluctant to attempt an escape and her own pursuit. But Zhao's use has been expended, and he is now just causing more damage.

No one likes to share power, and Mai despises the idea of ever having to answer to anyone. She had enough of that with her parents.

She is polite but cold, and then returns to contemplate which direction she should take.

* * *

Mai joins Zuko in bed, and no one minds. He in particular. Zuko likes the sensation of her body against him, likes how her skin is warm despite her disposition being so cold.

"Can I talk to you?" Zuko asks softly, leaning in closer to her.

Mai moves to wrap her leg around him, but he hesitates, and so does she.

"Yeah," Mai says and Zuko swallows.

The words are more difficult than he thought they would be. "I had no idea you were... conniving."

"I'm not usually," Mai says, shrugging. "I've never given half a fuck who rules the Fire Nation. Actually, I prefer not giving a fuck about anything, and I really hate trying too hard. _But_, I've realized that sometimes I can't just lie back and let whatever happen. Zhao trying to take over. Azula, Azula and whatever she is doing with the Avatar is bad news."

"Both of them like you. So does my father. You'll be fine," Zuko says earnestly and Mai sighs.

"Look, okay," she says, pulling her leg away and trying not to look at him. "I see all of these people taking control of what happens to them. Even Ty Lee. I realized that if I don't control my own life, somebody else is going to."

Zuko sighs and nods, touching her arm. He does understand deeply.

"And I'm your ticket to rule?" Zuko offers and Mai shakes her head.

"I don't need to be Fire Lady. I just want to shape everybody else like they've always shaped me." Bitterness. She sounds an awful lot like Azula when talking about her mother, save with dispassion instead of loathing.

Zuko... needs to open up as well. He knows that he at least owes Mai honesty.

"Mai, I'm your catspaw," he manages to choke out.

"What?" Mai rolls over to face Zuko in their bed.

"I'm your catspaw, aren't I? I've been wondering since the beginning, but now after you sent me out as the Blue Spirit..." Zuko rubs his face and wonders if he should regret this.

Thankfully, Mai does not understand at first. It gives him a chance to rethink what he said."What's a catspaw?"

But then Zuko knows he has to keep going. He started this, and he must finish it as well.

"My Uncle used to read me these Earth Kingdom stories. In one of them, a hog-monkey asks a cat to reach into hot coals and pull out these leechee nuts for them both. The cat burns its paws, and while the cat is in pain nursing its burns, the hog-monkey eats all of the nuts."

Zuko then lies in silence and shame.

Mai examines him for a moment, and answers him with a kiss instead of the truth.

Because she thinks he might be right, and she does not want him to be right.

* * *

Ty Lee did not sleep by Azula, and it makes her feel pangs of guilt. She is so confused right now, and she does not know if she loves Azula or not. The love has blended so deeply with reliance and duty that Ty Lee is not sure just how real it is anymore.

They only did get two hours or so, which seems to have become the norm in Ty Lee's life. She would kill or die to be able to sleep an entire night, comfortably. But that isn't in the stars, and Ty Lee has to try to be an optimist about the abysmal.

"Alright, so you all know the plan?" Azula repeats, because she knows that no one here is qualified. "And as I say, you will do. Be quiet, be quick. We go through these ruins, then turn into the forest once we reach the first construction site, and then we press forward. We'll need to stop about halfway through."

They nod, although they have heard it a thousand times before. Maybe etching into their minds makes it less frightening.

The quintet stops and gathers their things, checking clothes and finding what weapons and sources of light they have. Appa does not have the best cover, but Aang is doing all he can. It really doesn't help with how much pain the animal is in, and even Azula's heart chips a little bit for that situation. Even if he has just gone from a useful ally to an encumbrance.

Someone walks up behind the princess and gently touches her arm.

"Azula," Ty Lee whispers and the princess looks up from her observation of the path.

"Yes?" the princess asks as coldly as she can manage. She does not want Ty Lee to know that she thinks she has fallen in love with her. In fact, she does not want it to be anything more than hormones or pretending so long that it became real.

_Mai. Azula. Watching Ty Lee._

_"She's in love with you and you know it. That's why you planted a kiss on her and not me. You've involved me in most of your schemes throughout our lives. Last time I checked I was your go to girl for treason. But you know she's in love with you and loyal and everybody will believe her because it's true coming from her," Mai explains and Azula sighs._

_ "You should leave it alone," Azula replies in a sugary, silken tone. _

_ "I'm not going to do anything about it. I really don't care, to be honest. But I am going to say that you don't deserve her."_

Azula swallows her memory like bile and looks up at Ty Lee.

"It's going to be dangerous," Ty Lee says quietly. She licks her lips.

And Azula looks at her for a moment.

"Of course."

They stare, a little longer, Ty Lee's lips cracked and dry and red for licking them too often but oddly the most kissable thing Azula has ever seen.

But the kiss does not happen.

Ty Lee takes in a long, sharp breath, her nostrils filling with the scent of ash and damp, dead leaves. She cannot do this with Azula, she just _can't_.

It is dark, and they are prepared to move.

* * *

Zuko looks at the charred, metal landscape ahead of him.

Industry had always been appealing. Looking at Caldera as it acquired more and more buildings, and using every new innovation was such a relief and such a pretty sight after his time banished.

"This place got the brunt of the comet," Mai says casually, although she is also shares his awe.

This industry is not very pretty. In the distance there are ruins, and more forest interwoven with metal. If they are smart at all, they would try to cross through or around the camp that Zuko and Mai are currently at, and then hide out there for as long as possible.

It is a difficult walk, but not impossible. And the impossible is possible for his sister anyway.

The outposts nearby have been stocked with anyone talented, and as many archers as Zhao was willing to spare. And he and his best men wait in case the Avatar and Azula try to turn around and go back the way they came.

"It's kind of depressing that they walked into such an obvious trap," Mai remarks, yawning. She has finished her gross food and her water, and now she is tired and trying to stay awake.

She rests her head on Zuko's shoulder and he is not sure what to make of the heated shiver. He finds her sexy, too sexy to be for his own good.

"So, is winning this about being able to do whatever you want?" he whispers to Mai in genuine curiosity.

After a slow, deep breath, she replies, "No. It's about escaping being exclusively a tool for other people to do whatever they want."

He understands her. And so he pulls her closer to him until it is time for them to set off in quiet pursuit of Azula and the Avatar.

Zuko still cannot get over the fact that he is chasing the Avatar yet again.

But this time, he supposes, the Avatar is not a ghost.

* * *

The five companions stop at the very last of the ruins after finding ash, a few hardy plants and walls. Around them is more forest that remains, although most of it has been harvested, and too many trees are stumps to be decent enough cover.

Azula does not rest as she gets up and goes to scout out what lies beyond the forest. Katara instantly follows her, refusing to let Azula run or break their alliance.

"Where are you going?" hisses the waterbender and Azula rolls her eyes.

"I'm seeing how deep this patch goes," she says quietly, and she can hear running water. That must be why they kept as much of this half-charred forest intact. She then sees even more ruins; it is an entire ghost town.

And a large one.

"Why did they abandon this place?" Katara asks softly and Azula climbs up a tree to study it more closely.

She can see that it is a mining town. The mine must have dried up and it was left useless. However, Azula is still very skeptical about why there would be a potential escape to a forest that acts as a trap.

Azula climbs higher until she engulfed by leaves, and has to wipe them away from her face. An unseen branch scratches her cheek, but she keeps her pain silent, and finds a better vantage point. This place is grotesque. Maybe even a deathtrap.

Or maybe the colonists in such an awful area do not care at all about maintaining the Fire Nation's strict dominance in the Earth Kingdom. The last is probably more likely, Azula guesses. This place wasn't even seen without going into ruins and trees.

There is marshland around it, Azula notes, in case they get stuck there.

But before she can try to figure out a map of the place, she hears Katara scream. Azula looks down, not leaving the tree. That was a scream of utter horror, and Azula is not getting herself killed to save Katara ─ still the deadweight of her alliance, even with what Ty Lee asserts about her usefulness.

Azula sees something that is making Katara gag.

There is a body, in the marshland, groaning in absolute agony. His injuries disgust her, the gashes in him. Katara takes in short gasps as she wonders how she can help the man. He begs and begs for help and Katara is frozen and queasy.

But Azula sees the people waiting. The gang of what look like _raiders _within the ruins; Azula thought those bands of what were said to be cannibals and feral were rumors. But perhaps not.

_Trap, trap, trap. _Katara is walking to help the bait like a fool, and Azula decides to desert her a second time. She is saving her Avatar and her fiancee. Pouncing through the trees and slipping several times, Azula drops down and nearly gets bashed in the face by Sokka's knife.

He hisses, "You shouldn't─"

"Shut up, shut up," Azula stammers as she tries to catch her breath. Ty Lee and Aang stare at her, eyes wide. "Your sister is about to get killed."

Sokka's jaw drops. "Where?"

"That way."

He takes off running, as the other three split up and try to stay behind and alert. Aang stays with Appa as Ty Lee and Azula race after Sokka to make sure he doesn't get himself killed and eaten.

Katara has looked at the agonized man. He was a solider once, she notices, and as she approaches, he is suddenly struck dead by an arrow. Katara shrieks as she suddenly is surrounded by people she did not hear, smell or even notice.

"She's not Fire Nation," rasps a girl.

They are all wearing masks and clothes that blend. Katara just knows that they are not any rebels she has ever met, and their weapons are crude and bloodstained.

"You don't know that." The male speaking removes his mask and studies her for a moment. "Maybe not."

"I'm from the Water Tribe," Katara says, turning over. "I'm Chief Hakoda's daughter."

And Azula grabs Sokka before he lunges at them.

"Prove it," the grizzled teenage boy with a long scar from a blade on his face demands.

Katara waits for a moment, and then she sees the puddles of marsh water that she had been stepping around and avoiding.

Waterbender. She is a waterbender and she begins listing as much as she can that might help her.

"Calm down," he says, reaching to touch her before she flinches away. His hand stops in mid-air as he straightens his back again. "You aren't armed, and you don't look Fire Nation."

"Stupid enough to go into these woods too," laughs the girl behind a mask.

"What was... Who was that man?" Katara asks, tears in her eyes.

"He was a trap. Fire Nation soldier to try to catch anybody. Firebender, yellow eyes, I don't care. If any of them come for him, we take them or kill them." The boy stops and clears his throat. "I'm going to have to take you prisoner, but I don't plan on hurting you. You aren't a firebender... but you do look familiar."

"Wanted poster," a masked male says. "She's on the Wanted Poster as a rebel or something. One of those people who crashed the princess's party to kill her."

And the man does raise an eyebrow. "Somebody go look for the poster. Any enemy of the royals as a friend of mine."

He extends a hand and Katara does not want to take it. Not at all. But she does.

She catches a sight of Sokka's eyes, and barely conceals a sigh of relief. He will come for her, or at least Aang will.

* * *

Azula, Sokka and Ty Lee convene in the furthest depths of the forest they can find. They are in a ditch, and closer to the ruins than to the supposed camp of the raiders. Still, they cannot stop glancing over their shoulders, or be rid of their gooseflesh.

Sokka demands, "We have to go save her. We _have to_."

Ty Lee agrees too, with a soft whisper about not letting her get hurt. Azula, however, has no patience for this.

"So, I'm pretty sure he just said he wanted to gut me or something," she states without further explanation of her quandary.

"Yeah, I heard those raiders kill people and then eat them alive," Ty Lee adds, horrified.

Sokka cocks an eyebrow as Azula just slowly shakes her head. "How would they kill them _before _eating them alive?"

"Just shut up. All of you. I said what I say goes in this crossing," Azula states. "And I'm leaving now. I'll keep a lookout, of course. But I'm not going up against them."

Sokka does sigh. "I want to say you're horribly selfish because you are, but that's a pretty fair point. If we get caught with you helping us, they're going to kill us too."

Azula nods.

"Then I'm meeting you people at the next town to the north," Azula says quietly, still queasy.

The corpse that she can smell from far away, or maybe is just stuck in her nostrils. The begging for help, the creeps in masks and Katara's tears. It makes Azula rather uncertain where her loyalties should lie.

Sokka stops. "I thought you were going to wait in the woods or something. How do we know you're coming back?"

"Keep Ty Lee," she says and her fiancee looks up at her, stunned. "She can pass easily as Earth Kingdom, and I trust you all, and trust her."

Only one out of those three statements is true, but they all believe her.

"Yeah," Ty Lee says, her heart suddenly racing. She walks to Azula before the princess can flee, and she grabs her shirt, right above her navel, and pulls her into the hardest kiss she has ever given.

It lasts maybe too long or maybe too short, but they do pull away.

"And...?" Azula is definitely shocked by that.

Ty Lee's only reply is, "Now I know you're coming back."

* * *

Azula is on a very careful lookout as she decides to take the route of smaller ruins near the Fire Nation soldiers. Her group, their clumsiness and their fur monster weighed her down and required much more care than she needs to take alone. But she has the sensation of being followed, and with that, the very clear mental image of being murdered, hacked to bits and cannibalized.

She sees what must have once been a watchtower, now decayed and wrapped with reddish ivy. Azula grabs onto the best hold she has, is _very _reminded of nearly taking a fatal tumble with Katara, and climbs up. It was easier than she thought, and she breathes out a short sigh of relief.

Partially hidden in the shadows, Azula watches from her perch, and waits for the shadows pursuing her.

It takes longer than she would like, but it is all worth it.

She should have presumed it was Zhao's men and not cannibal raiders. They _have _been following Azula and her companions doggedly since they left the party. And seeing as the forest was the only way north...

Azula makes mental note to tell those idiots to be more careful where they are going.

But Mai and Zuko, the hunters, become the hunted, and Azula now follows them.

* * *

Princess Azula is torn in debate as she hears the two of them bickering nonstop. Mai... Mai is proposing that they leave Zhao as soon as they have the Avatar. And she reveals the marvelous fact that the barricade on the other side is the weakest and most pathetic in history despite the Yuyan Archers.

Alright, Yuyan Archers are not _pathetic_, even if Mai looks down on them for good reason.

But all of this works in the favor of Princess Azula.

Maybe being so easy to catch was not such a bad idea, as she had contemplated before.

* * *

After walking for what felt like an eternity, Mai and Zuko stop for a breather outside of the forest. They catch their breath as Mai leans against a tree and looks up to see that the moon is still high in the cloudless night. This could not be worse, in her opinion. Zuko agrees.

"This is horrible," Mai says as they stop. "Maybe we should go into the ruins."

"They're haunt─" Zuko blushes. "Uh, never mind."

"We're just fumbling around blindly and hoping for the best. It's not the best plan we've ever had," Mai says with a sigh.

Before Zuko can offer any suggestions, they snap to attention as the tree rustles, and feet thud faintly on the ground.

"_Azula_," Zuko says and she really never gets tired of how alarmed he sounds when he says her name. Perhaps that is just how he thinks it is pronounced.

"Why...?" Mai is fairly speechless, as she keeps a dagger pointed and Zuko's brandishes his blades as if it will intimidate her.

"Why am I revealing myself to you two? Possibly because it's grating to hear you arguing like an old married couple... or possibly because I wanted to be found." Azula smirks and there is brief silence.

"Yeah, I can't see why you would want to be found," Zuko declares with that attractive confidence Mai finds so attractive.

Azula shrugs. "It isn't as if you could have caught me if I didn't present myself. I was three feet above you two, and I was _planning _on meeting you both. As to _why _I left my pathetic companions and am here? Well, being on the run from just about everyone is less glamorous than you would think," Azula purrs as she leans against the tree trunk so casually.

Mai very slowly lowers her dagger, but Zuko keeps his sweaty hand tightly wrapped around his broadswords.

"What do you want? You have to want something from us." Mai asks cautiously. She knows that Azula has always been her friend, and while Azula is difficult to trust, Mai trusts her much more than Zhao.

Azula licks her lips, her eyelashes fluttering. "Mmm. I am a bit interested in something I saw recently... It has convinced me to turn myself in."

Now Mai raises her dagger again. "That's a bit hard to believe."

"What is it you saw?" Zuko asks, taking a slow, deep breath.

"A trap, set to draw in more by the pained screams of one of their allies." She shrugs, her voice flat while Zuko feels twisting disgust in his stomach. He does not like how Azula can smirk at something that grotesque. "I have been thinking about exactly how little I am gaining going to the North Pole with the Avatar and his friends."

"You aren't stupid," Mai says, rolling her eyes. "You know that Zhao wants to use you, and also that he's crazy."

"Did I say anything about turning myself in to Zhao?" Azula cocks an eyebrow.

Mai and Zuko exchange a brief glance.

"Where's Ty Lee?" Mai inquires, unsure what to do with her weapons.

Azula shrugs. "I left her as collateral. You see, we stumbled into a bit of a... problem. A problem called a variety of very insane people who I am pretty sure were going to murder and possibly cannibalize me since I'm Fire Nation. Ty Lee doesn't look Fire Nation."

"You are so generous, Princess Azula," Mai says before lowering her weapon for good. Zuko stands down as well, because she clearly is still the self-interested person she has always been.

"You can take me to Zhao," Azula suggests, turning a palm up. "_Or_, you can take the Avatar for yourself."

Mai looks at Zuko. They both know that Azula does not share power, and they _both _are catspaws in this situation. But Mai believes in herself, and she knows that Azula's ego will prevent her from thinking she is in any danger of being betrayed.

"We were leaving Zhao anyway," Mai admits honestly and Zuko was quite unaware of that. She had not filled him in after their night when he revealed he might not have full trust in her.

"Excellent." Azula smiles at them.

Let the game begin.


	19. Chapter 19

It would feel natural to let Azula take control, but Mai and Zuko know better.

Their alliance is unpleasant so far, but they know it will work out in the end, and that is enough for them. The princess is useful to them, and they are useful to the princess and... they were friends once many, many suns ago.

But right here and now, the sun is blocked by the smog.

Azula thinks she can somehow use that to her advantage, but she is not entirely certain _how_. Her eyes scan the barren wastes that are this entire stretch, while theirs never leave her hands and feet.

"What are they even building here? It looks like a dried up waste of space," Azula asks as she scans for anything that can be of significant use to her.

"City?" Mai shrugs; she did not ask because there was no reason to care.

"It won't be a very nice one," Azula says with a shrug and sneer of distaste.

Zuko wonders if he should protest; Mai does not.

Azula is not thinking much about the city.

To tell the truth, she still has that chill in her spine from Katara, the churning in her stomach from seeing what could have been her death, and the pounding of excitement in her heart from knowing that she might just have the perfect opportunity to make an unpredictable move that wins her the entire game.

And, Mai and Zuko, of course, will not figure out until it is much, much too late.

* * *

Katara does not know what to do, or if she should scream for help.

That would be unwise and she knows it, and no one would hear her. Who would? The Fire Nation soldiers nearby? Definitely not them. She knows that she _is _who she says she is, and she should have nothing to fear, but being taken into dark, crumbling ruin by creepy people in masks is beyond unsettling.

For the past hour, she has been led, surrounded by the heavily armed raiders in masks, into the depths of the ruins, atop trees and stone. They interlink, branches filling gaps between where age made walls collapse. It all is camouflaged, and all looks dangerous to enter.

No one would find her here.

That's not a good way of looking at it, Katara reminds herself.

"So, uh," Katara says hesitantly, trying not to let her voice tremble, "you guys aren't _really _cannibals, right?"

The male who seems to be a leader laughs. "No. Who told you that?"

Katara shrugs and sighs.

"Cannibals in the woods are just a rumor people toss around, I guess." She laughs too, but hers is much, much dryer.

He removes his mask and Katara bites her lip. He laughs again. "Were you expecting a monster?"

"No," Katara lies. Then she sighs. "Kind of. I guess I was expecting someone old and scary. Not somebody my brother's age."

It makes his lips curl into a small smile, which contorts the scar on his face. As Katara looks at it more carefully, she can see it is not from fire, like the burn on Azula's brother. It is not precise either; it looks like he got it in some kind of fight with a bladed opponent, but Katara is not tactless enough to ask about it right away.

"I'm Jet, and you seem okay," he says, offering her a smile.

While it might not be the most assuring of grins, not being gutted or glared at is enough to make Katara's heart beat a little more regularly.

She continues following him, still waiting and hoping for her friends to come help her.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the woods only a small stretch of blackened trees away from Katara, her brother, Ty Lee and the Avatar are buckling in for the night before they intend to go save her.

"See, invisible," Aang declares, grinning as he finishes draping Appa in moss stained coal black from the ruins. Ty Lee giggles and he smiles at her as Sokka rolls his eyes crabbily. "You blend right in, buddy."

Ty Lee's smile fades and Aang's follows a few moments afterwards. They know that hiding for very long is a joke when the Fire Nation has the ground and the freaks with masks have the trees. There is no safety for them, Katara is captured and Azula has conveniently vanished right when they could use a little military experience.

"I'm worried about her," Ty Lee says and Aang sighs.

Sokka retorts, "We're all worried about her. How could we _not _be worried about her? She just got kidnapped by raiders in masks!"

Ty Lee rubs her eyes. "Please keep your voice down. You've woken up the monkeys, and you're going to wake up those guys too."

The water tribesman wants to argue with her, but he cannot. He can hear nature's angry chirping, despite the ashes that this forest is in, and he kicks the dirt before sitting down and trying to think of how he can best save Katara.

Ty Lee and Aang sit beside each other, both wondering about dinner, but neither with an appetite.

They are too worried about if their enemies have an appetite for Katara's flesh.

* * *

A fire blazes inside of the ruins, within a dark cave. Katara has no idea where she is, but she is perfectly content to focus on the food as she looks at the raiders with their masks off. They look like people, underneath it all.

Katara is offered very shiny renditions of the nuts and berries she had found so unappetizing before. They smell like spices, and not just dirt and leaves.

"What's on them?" she asks before adding, "I don't mean to be rude. I just didn't think these could look so good."

Jet looks at her for a moment. "Spices," and he lists a couple of words she has never heard before. "And they're just roasted. If you don't like them..."

"Nope. I'm happy to." She accepts them, and the water.

This is not a horrible place, and she hopes that they do not notice how often she glances ovre her shoulder, looking for any of her friends.

* * *

That night, Ty Lee takes deep breaths that are useless at calming her down as she tries to sleep. Of course, there is no way she is sleeping a wink tonight. And neither is Aang. They both are there, together, as Sokka remains awake, scheming alone, even though he has no idea what they might be walking into.

"I'm horrified," Ty Lee whispers honestly to Aang.

"You're fine," he says to her with such a genuine, confident smile that her heart warms. "I think it's going to work out."

Ty Lee laughs a little and Aang looks at her with a curve of his lip that asks for her to elaborate.

"You're like Azula in some ways, but nicer. Well, it's not hard to be a nicer person than Azula, but you do that thing where even though I know there's a huge chance we're all going to die in this forest, I feel like it's somehow going to work out because you say so."

"Thanks, I guess." Aang does not really know what to say to that.

"I think the Fire Days Festival is coming up," Ty Lee says softly, scratching her arm as she thinks about it. "I went to her with it before. It was the first time I ever kissed her."

"Really?" Aang asks, turning over to face Ty Lee.

She suppresses a smile, thinking he might be a bit better at girl talk than Azula and Mai.

(Or a lot better)

* * *

After a long walk with Mai and Zuko, punctuated by conversation that was _flat _to say the least, Azula is grateful to finally be away from the disgusting, charred fields. Pretending to be friends is difficult enough, especially after they really _were _friends last time they spoke, before Azula decided to join the Avatar and run away with Ty Lee.

And these gross fields were a horrible atmosphere.

Mai and Zuko are glad to escape for the same reasons.

But despite the moment of relief, now none of them are sure how they are supposed to get around Zhao, and the men that are waiting to intercept them.

"Why are you both looking to me?" Azula demands, her eyes glinting with more of that arrogant fake confusion.

Mai has half a mind just to take her straight to Admiral Zhao and forget about this double crossing game. But she also knows that Azula is a decent teammate, while she lasts. So long as their interests are in tandem, Azula will stop at nothing for them both to win.

The same cannot be said for Zhao.

"You're the one who proposed this idea. We imagined you had figured out how to get us past him," Mai says coldly and Azula frowns.

She can see the bright lights of the towns ahead, shining through the dark green trees.

But in the way of that blissful stretch of the land is an army waiting for her, salivating with the thought of turning her over to her father like a prize.

"Help me think," Azula says. "_Mai_. Not that I really have to clarify."

Zuko rolls his eyes. This alliance better not last for too long.

* * *

Ty Lee dreams about bright yellow and red lights. About stars and fireworks and trinkets and baubles. About golden eyes that follows her around and sweaty palms that refuse to latch onto hers unless she grabs and grabs and begs or pretends to be scared of the crowds.

Of lightning bugs released in celebration.

But she wakes up far away from a beautiful festival, in the cold embrace of the ashy forest, in damp dirt. She hopes that kiss meant something, even though she knows that their last conversations revolved mostly around the fact that their love _couldn't _be real.

She is starting to feel the warmth it left on her lips fade, and...

That scares her.

Which she hates, because she has spent this entire trip convincing herself she was no longer in love with Azula.

And now she thinks she might be, of course, _so conveniently_, right after the princess left and might not be coming back.


	20. Chapter 20

"You're the one who proposed this idea. We imagined you had figured out how to get us past him," Mai says coldly and Azula frowns.

She can see the bright lights of the towns ahead, shining through the dark green trees.

But in the way of that blissful stretch of the land is an army waiting for her, salivating with the thought of turning her over to her father like a prize.

"Help me think," Azula says. "_Mai_. Not that I really have to clarify."

Zuko rolls his eyes. This alliance better not last for too long. He does not think he can handle _both _Mai and Azula's power lust. At least Mai's comes with the benefit of regular lust too; he cannot say the same for his sister.

"You know what tomorrow is?" Mai says, her eyes glinting with realization. "Tomorrow is the Fire Days Festival."

"How is that remotely helpful?" Azula spits with a condescending cocked eyebrow.

Mai takes a silent, deep breath before answering, "Because everyone is going to be rushing into that clean, bright city up ahead, and no one will notice three teenagers."

Azula touches her lip gently, loath to admit that Mai is right about that. Blending in is a far better idea than hiding out; Azula will admit to that fact. Being the most wanted person on Earth alongside the Avatar, and with Zuko's telltale scar, the only way for the trio to succeed is through the most discreet means possible.

They sit in a dark camp without a fire, and keep in the cover of the trees at all costs.

The sensation of having someone hunting Azula in the night is surprisingly not as disturbing or unnerving as she thought it would be.

It feels _normal _at this point, which is awfully depressing to realize.

Zuko and Mai keep giving each other strange glances. Azula analyzes them as they all pretend to sleep; or maybe they are just trying to sleep and failing. The cold night chills Azula's skin, but Mai and Zuko's interactions are a thousand times colder.

Azula smirks and twists the ring around her finger.

She remembers Ty Lee, and the kiss Ty Lee gave her, but she forcefully shoves it out of her mind and attempts to focus.

* * *

_Ty Lee is in the circus again. She really isn't sure how she got there, but she is definitely in the circus again. _

_ "No, you can't go on the tightrope," murmurs a hypnotic and alien voice. "I've signed you up to help with the knife throwing."_

_ "Knife throwing?" Ty Lee asks, batting her eyelashes innocently. "Mai is the one who does that. I do the acrobatic tricks!"_

_ She grins at the disembodied voice, but she cannot say another word before she is latched on to a teetering wheel. Her hands are tied to it with strong chains, and her body is so exposed and open to whoever will be doing this trick._

_ Ty Lee crosses her pained fingers as she hopes with all of her heart that the other performer knows what he or she is doing._

_ Of course, Ty Lee sees Mai walk out. She is wearing _such _a dazzling dress that it is all Ty Lee can look and marvel at before the first knife grazes her shoulder before sticking in the wheel. Ty Lee tries to scream out that she wants to get down now, but the wheel just begins to spin._

_ The world makes no sense from this perspective, but as the knives land over and over and over, she begins to tense instead of relax._

_ As the wheel spins, she sees that it is no longer Mai in the dazzling dress._

_ It is Azula in ceremonial wedding garb._

_ "Do you trust me?" Azula purrs, her voice eerie and consumptive._

_ "Yes," Ty Lee says against her will._

_ She spins. Azula throws. The knives land safely as Ty Lee's heart jumps in relief with each thud._

_ But then as Ty Lee is beginning to relax and allow her fiancee to perform, the knives begin to hit her skin. They hurt like Koh's Realm as they puncture her skin. The blood bursts from them, too much for these kinds of wounds, and probably more than she has in her body._

_ "I trusted you!" are Ty Lee's last words before one of the knives pierces through her neck._

Ty Lee wakes, sweaty and trying to keep her breathing under control. Aang looks at her, his lips pouted slightly in concern.

She glances up to see Sokka returning from his scouting mission before she can even process her dream.

"We need to go to the city in the distance. I've been tracking them; I'm the most talented hunter in my entire village, and so I'm not wrong. They went in that direction, and the city makes the most sense."

Sokka has a fierce look of a chief in his eyes, and so the bubbly Ty Lee and Aang do not disagree with him or protest.

They pack up and travel through the forest.

* * *

Katara wakes up swaying slightly.

Her heart jumps in panic at the instability of her waking position, before she looks down and sees that she is nestled in a hammock. She thought it would be uncomfortable to sleep among ruins and in trees, but the hammock and the old blanket were extremely cozy.

Of course, every time she feels grateful for how well this kidnapping turned out she remembers the fact that Sokka is probably extremely worried about her. He is probably on the verge of chopping down the whole forest with only his bone knife to find her. And she is sleeping in a comfy hammock and eating the delicious food that the Freedom Fighters offer her.

Katara initially feels too lazy to get out of bed, but then she hears the loud _crash _of a cannon and leaps to her feet so quickly that she nearly topples over. Her hair tousled and her body sweaty, Katara tries to make her mind cold and focused again to little success.

She then hears the shouts reverberating through the forest.

_Zhao_. Zhao and his men are attacking the ruins at full force. Katara had thought that she was safe this far into the thick trees and supposedly cursed woods, but obviously she was wrong. _Zhao_.

Katara begins to run down from her perch, grasping at water that has no desire to obey her. She dashes forward and sees the Freedom Fighters at a makeshift turret and barricade that protects them from most of the gunpowder triggered attacks.

"What do we do?" Katara screams in fear and the exact face she wants to see looks down at her.

Jet swings from the barricade with ease, leaving his silent friend to shoot arrows and his three other close comrades manning any weapons possible. He walks towards Katara, whom has her arms wrapped tightly around her body from the fear.

"Katara, we have to go into the forest," Jet says forcefully. "The rest of the Freedom Fighters have already gone through our escape route; it's just me and Longshot and a few stragglers behind. I thought you made it out with them."

The concern in his eyes fills Katara with a warmth that she has not felt in a long time. He _cares _about her. Jet, this cold, frightening rebel who Katara thought was going to kill and eat her seems to care more about her than anyone has in years.

"Let's go," Katara shouts and Jet nods enthusiastically with a glint of his perpetually brooding eyes.

They run into the ruins, down through the crumbling stone hallways that Katara had seen only from the outside. The dim light of the embers left over from last night's fires are the only thing illuminating the path ahead of her and Jet.

"Down this tunnel, okay?" Jet says, a command that Katara feels loath to obey.

"Yeah. I'll decide where I go, okay?" Katara murmurs under her breath, but she does not repeat it louder for fear of angering her host. Her host who knows the way out of this abysmal, ashy forest, which Katara certainly does not.

They bolt forward as quickly as their legs can carry them, Jet glancing over his shoulder every once in a while to make sure his ward is still following him. Katara runs after him without complaint, keeping up perfectly, until she slows to a halt.

"I don't..." Katara squints at the _mines _in front of her. Katara has seen _mines _and she knows that people who go into them frequently do not come out. She looks over her shoulder and forces herself to admit her fears were not misplaced. "Everybody went out those doors into the backwoods. Don't you think going with them is safer?"

Jet's eyes flash and Katara feels her tummy twist. She _really _does not know if she can trust him, whether he cares about her or not. Katara licks her lips and then loses her balance when the artillery collides with the center of the ruins.

He catches her as she begins to fall, and she stares into his eyes, searching for a lie.

She tries her best not to find one.

"Please trust me, Katara. I swear that I'm on your side. We need to go through the mines and you know I wouldn't take you through them unless I knew they were safe," Jet says softly, his voice layered with smooth sugar.

Katara hesitates. "I need to make sure my brother finds me. He's going to look for me."

"He's going to find you on the other side." Jet cannot hide the impatient twitch of his eyebrow. "You said you were Hakoda's daughter? I know where he is, and I can take you to him. Then your brother can meet up with us. Don't you want that?"

Katara makes a small _hmming _sound as she weighs her options. If he does know where her father is, and he doesn't seem to be lying, it would be worth going with him. Katara is leaning back and forth about her decision at a fast pace before the next artillery strike nearly collapses the tunnel she is in with Jet.

"Okay, okay!" Katara shouts and Jet conceals his victorious smile.

They run into the mines as Katara tries to keep herself ready for a fight.

* * *

"I. Do. Not. Like. This. Fire. Festival," Sokka says firmly as he looks at the packed streets of the brightly illuminated city.

Aang scowls at him and Ty Lee grins before batting her eyelashes. Neither of them even come close to swaying his opinion.

"It's going to be fun," Aang declares with a huge smile.

Ty Lee thinks a little bit more tactically. "We're going to hide out here and then meet up with Azula. She'll know what to do."

Sokka frowns. "You have a lot of faith in her. More faith than most people have in their spirits, and I'm pretty sure most of those spirits _aren't real_."

Rolling her eyes, Ty Lee tilts her chin towards the smoky sky and refuses to make eye contact. Mostly because she knows that he might be right about her trust in Azula. But Ty Lee will not stand down about that, because she is super excited about the festival and she is assured that the kiss she gave Azula will make the princess come back.

Their love might have been a sham to disguise Azula vying for the throne, but Ty Lee does think they both care about each other, whether as friends, lovers, fiancées or partners in winning an imminent civil war. Azula wouldn't just leave and there is no way she could ever get captured. She's too perfect and talented.

"Just try on a mask and it'll be awesome. We can snoop around a bit and try to figure out a new game plan."

"_Our game plan _should be finding Katara. End of sentence. She's in danger with those freaks in the trees and I tolerated checking out the city in case it could help us find a trace of her, but she's getting further away. _I know it_," Sokka growls like a tiger-seal and Ty Lee plays with her hair.

"It's not a party or irresponsible. We can still check around for a trace of her," Ty Lee pleads and Sokka stares at her for a long while, trying to gauge her intentions.

She seems much too set on staying in this city for the festival. Sokka thinks that it might be the beginning of a strike from her and Azula, and he will not let it happen on his watch. _Especially _when Katara is in trouble.

Aang returns with masks before Sokka can begin his interrogation of Ty Lee. He pulls his on and begins to walk amongst the crowd. The bone knife in his satchel weighs as much as a thousand stones, because every time a Fire Nation person laughs gleefully he wants to stab them in the back.

This place is horrible. It is oblivious to the suffering, even though it obviously lived through Sozin's Comet. He distinctly remembers looking up at the sky, thinking he was seeing the Southern Lights. But he was not; he was seeing the comet that would end the world.

Every time he remembers sitting on a block of ice with such _ignorance _of this world he feels a bitter and metallic taste flood his mouth. And worse than the Fire Nation, Aang and Ty Lee are giggling and trying out the _carnival _games that are set up.

He gives them a chance. But just for tonight.

* * *

The acquiescence of Azula, Mai and Zuko does not last for very long. And it is not disrupted because of the sound of fireworks. They clearly have _zero _trust in Princess Azula and she supposes that she does not blame them. Azula is not the type of person that anyone ought to trust.

"So, where's Ty Lee? Did you ditch her completely?" Mai asks dryly as she shields her amber eyes from the vibrant lights of the Fire Days Festival.

"She is with my... travel companions. I intend to meet up with her as soon as it is convenient," Azula purrs confidently and Mai sighs. Zuko groans, but he keeps his judgment to himself.

"Who noticed it first?" Mai asks as she scrutinizes the stuffed animal she has the potential to win.

"Noticed what first?" Azula asks scathingly as she glances around the merchant carts selling sparkler sticks and memorabilia.

"Noticed the depth of your indifference towards each other," Mai says coolly as if discussing the weather or what should go on their grocery list.

She tosses two copper pieces onto the slightly scorched wooden table and gladly accepts the darts that the shopkeeper passes her.

"We don't have _indifference _towards each other. She is madly in love with me, and I appreciate her merits as a partner," Azula purrs with the strong urge to knock the darts off balance and ensure Mai's loss. Oh, Mai would not ask another question for the entire night because of her horrendous humiliation of losing this throwing star carnival game. But Azula has no choice other than sticking with Mai and Zuko until she can unglue their relationship.

"Your love story was pretty obviously a sham."

"We were in a relationship."

"It would be generous to call you two friends with benefits." Mai pops the first balloon. The loud sound makes Azula dig her fingernails into the table that she is leaning against.

"Sure, whatever. How do you know I didn't fall for her?"

"She didn't fall for you, I bet." _Pop_. "Ty Lee moved on when you kept refusing to be with her. She _did_, because even your glorious self isn't worth waiting a lifetime to get the time of day from." _Pop_. "You just kind of didn't give her a choice other than becoming your wife and a fugitive." _Pop_. "Oh, and an accomplice in whatever you're trying."

"She never moved on. She always loved me and always will," Azula snaps, and Mai and Zuko both can see that Azula is not talking about Ty Lee.

She is talking about herself.

_I never moved on_, a girl more honest than Azula would say. _I always loved her and always will._

Mai thinks that perhaps an honest Azula would also add, _I want her to love me back like she used to. When she used to be my loyal and devoted puppy-bear._

But _pop_ goes the last balloon, Mai claims her prize, and Azula strides further into the city.

The princess clears her throat and declares, "We ought to look for lodgings so we can plan our next step."

* * *

The sound of firecrackers punctuates Ty Lee and Aang's giddy laughter.

"You look so funny!" Ty Lee laughs, her eyes sparkling behind the pink and gold masquerade mask she donned.

Aang grins as he continues balancing the circlets they won from a weird Fire Nation game on his head.

"I know! Or thank you!" Aang blushes and has to snap his neck to the side to keep the balancing act going.

"You would fit in _awesome _at the circus," Ty Lee says with a toothy grin. "Where did you learn all this Fire Nation stuff, anyway?"

Aang drops two of the ringlets and catches the rest. Ty Lee frowns when she realizes she said something that hurt him, and she hopes that he will forgive her.

"I had a friend, back... before." He shivers slightly when he thinks about being encased in the ice. He feels nauseous whenever he thinks about how he abandoned so many people. "His name was Kuzon. The Fire Nation wasn't fighting anybody back then, and I was friends with people all over the world. It was awesome."

His eyes glow vibrantly with his wistful remarks about life before the One Hundred Year War. Ty Lee can only smile and wish she could share those feelings that he has about the world.

But before Ty Lee can ask more about Kuzon, they are interrupted by Sokka.

"I'm leaving to go find Katara. There's a trail into the woods on the other side of town, which is _where we agreed to go _before you two deciding to play circus games and laugh about genocide. You two can come with me or stay. I don't care." Sokka adjusts his hide bag on his back and stares at them for five or six seconds before he begins walking away.

Ty Lee and Aang hesitate, both of their mouths slightly open. It was not as surprising as Ty Lee wishes she could say that it was, but she doesn't know how she is supposed to react.

"Let's just stay here a couple minutes," Aang says softly, trying to give Ty Lee a consoling smile.

"Yeah," she says, taking his hand and squeezing it.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same festival, Azula has no idea that Ty Lee is mere blocks away from her and vice versa. Azula has been developing the idea that there is a lot of trouble and paradise for Mai and Zuko. She can feel it in the agitation between them.

They are like an unstable firework just begging for someone to light the fuse.

And Azula thinks she is the perfect incendiary device to do such a thing.

"You two obviously have never been Zhao's little goons. I'm curious as to why you never broke away from him before," Azula prods, trying to sound composed, but the fact that she is only asking to get revenge about Mai's comments on Ty Lee belies her collected demeanor.

"No," Mai says, glancing around the increasingly boring festival. "We didn't because we're not the type of impulsive idiots who run off with the Avatar for no good reason."

Azula's face becomes ashen as she tries to contain her rage. She just says, "I bet Zhao will come looking for you two." _And I won't save you_.

Mai rolls her eyes and Zuko pretends not to notice the threat.

* * *

Zhao does come looking for them. He _does _and Ty Lee and Aang spring into a mad panic. This is not good. Oh, spirits, this is the exact opposite of good times a million. The festival delves into utter chaos as Zhao's countless, well armed soldiers flood the streets and claim the city as their own.

"I am looking for the Avatar...!" begins Zhao with not a moment of tact or examination.

Ty Lee starts backing away, Aang taking the cue from her. They duck beneath the crowds and run as fast as they can without drawing attention to themselves. Ty Lee should have _known _this would happen, and she and Aang should have known that Sokka had the right idea.

They just got so caught up having _fun _for once instead of navigating group politics and getting into fight after fight after fight that they did not think about Zhao on their heels.

Mai, Zuko and Azula were not having _any _fun. But they also did not presume that the city would be occupied by Zhao's men out of nowhere. The three of them jump over the counter of a merchant selling alcoholic beverages and then crawl across the litter-strewn street, desperately trying to reach a concealed location to hide until Zhao gets angry and gives up.

They disappear, and Ty Lee and Aang disappear in the opposite direction.

As Ty Lee and Aang run through the forest, uncertain if they are on the remotely right trail, they are suddenly grabbed. Ty Lee gasps in fright as she hears someone un-sheath a sword and the crackling of firebending. No, no, no this is _not okay_.

"Why does everything go so _awful _for us?" Ty Lee snaps before she has a blindfold pulled over her brow.

Aang has to admit he has the same question most of the time.


	21. Chapter 21

_"__It would be generous to call you friends with benefits_," haunts Azula's mind as she tries to sleep.

Mai said it this evening in a very blunt discussion about Ty Lee. Azula feels bothered by how _true _it is, and she does not know why. It has always been evident, and Azula would never call her a girlfriend or a lover or a… fiancée. They may be engaged, but they are not in love.

Mutually, at least.

Azula cannot stop thinking about it. She cannot stop replaying her and her fiancée's parting kiss two long days ago. The scene perpetually loops in her head, laughing in the face of her exhaustion. She needs sleep, but she is not getting it tonight.

The smell of fireworks still permeates the air.

_"__You are my sun," Ty Lee says, three years before the fateful day of their engagement announcement. _

_They sit under trees with golden leaves, near the palace._

_Azula laughs and Ty Lee briefly looks wounded. _

_"__I need to be more than that," replies the princess, seeing how far she can push it._

_Her hypothesis is 'very far.'_

_Ty Lee fervently says, "You are my sun and every single star in my sky and my only source of light in the whole world."_

_ "__I should be," Azula says, smirking._

_Ty Lee leans closer and kisses Azula gently on the mouth. The princess pushes her away and stands up, her hands shaking. Ty Lee bites down on her lower lip as her eyes swell with glistening tears._

_ "__Don't cry. I hate it when people cry in front of me." Azula runs away._

_Ty Lee waits until her footsteps fade before she breaks down into tears._

_She has no idea that Azula hates crying in front of people. She shares those tears but Ty Lee will never know. _

_Ty Lee cries from pain; Azula cries from confusion._

_Azula cannot love Ty Lee. That is not how the world works. Even an infatuation is too much, even the undeniable physical attraction is too much. Princess Azula cannot afford to succumb to those fuzzy and foolish teenage feelings._

_Ty Lee lives for those fuzzy and foolish feelings, but at this moment, she wishes that she did not._

Azula definitely will not sleep tonight. She can only think about needing to reunite with that girl and figure out how to claim her throne.

Mai and Zuko are far less helpful than Ty Lee was.

* * *

In the morning, Mai taps Azula on the shoulder and the princess sits straight up, as if Mai doused her with ice water. She did not sleep, and the world feels too intense. Colors too bright, skin too sticky, her vision too blurry.

"Were you already up?" Mai asks and Azula nods.

"What do you want?" Azula demands, stretching. It does not help.

"Some asshole raided the Fire Festival shortly after we left. They took prisoners, and I think it was probably a very flimsy cover for Zhao. We're going to hunt them down," Mai explains, tapping at her knife. She looks very impatient, craving the violence. Azula cannot blame her.

"I thought we were running from Zhao," Azula says, cocking an eyebrow. "Not that I don't want to see him dead. I had a chance to kill him at sea Islands and I did not take it. It has become a regret of mine."

"We heard they retreated to the forest. It's on our way, and I wonder if they captured anyone of interest to us," Mai says, nodding at the window in the vague direction of the woods.

"This seems like a very flimsy cover for turning me in to Zhao," Azula says and Mai comes close to smiling.

"I wish. Would you care to lead us, princess?" Mai offers and Azula shrugs.

"I doubt Zuko wants to follow me."

Mai smirks.

"He follows me like a puppy. If I follow you, he will too," she says.

Azula quite likes the sound of that. She gladly leaves the inn with Mai and Zuko in tow.

* * *

Ty Lee is blindfolded; Aang is too.

It seems like certain death until they hear, "Aang? Ty Lee?"

Aang brightly asks, "Katara?"

"Yeah," the waterbender replies breathlessly, and Ty Lee feels ill-kept nails on her cheek, frantic fingers undoing the dirty red cloth.

As Katara moves on to Aang, it flutters down onto Ty Lee's lap. She sees that the blindfold is made out of a tattered Fire Nation flag. It seems a bit on the nose, even for rebels.

The tents surrounding the trio are rudimentary at best, and the camp does not seem as well stocked or manned as any of the Fire Nation ones Ty Lee has seen. She wonders how hard it would be to escape from these rebels.

"What's happening?" Ty Lee inquires. Katara stares at her for a moment with those big blue eyes.

"My friend Jet, he and his friends—I guess my friends—raided the Fire Festival. We kind of fought some soldiers and Zhao was there and I really don't know how it ended because he sent me back to camp with a few other people. We had to escape from the ruins where they lived and we ended up here without any supplies so…" Katara trails off when she realizes how much she just said.

"So, we're free to go then?" Ty Lee asks, her eyes lighting up. Katara's expression dashes her hopes; she sees that she is a prisoner and it is not a pleasant revelation.

"I don't know about that. I'm not really in charge," Katara says, blushing. She looks so ashamed for a crime that is not her fault. "I'll go talk to Jet, though. I promise."

Katara gazes at them for a few moments longer, and then walks towards the center of the camp. She stares at the prisoners scattered across the camp. That raid was harrowing in a way. Katara will never forget the screaming. At last, she finds Jet in the center of the site.

"Hi, Katara," he says, touching her shoulder. It gives her chills.

"We captured my friends by accident. I think they were hiding at the Fire Festival," Katara explains, smiling at him. "Can we let them go?"

Jet gazes at her with those dreamy eyes. She could get lost in them, but she focuses on winning this war and restoring balance to the world. Getting the guy can wait until she accomplishes her mission.

That does not stop the tension between them, however. At least until he kills the romantic sensation by saying, "We can't let anyone go. We're trying to stay out of the Fire Nation's sight or knowledge. They could tell someone about this."

Katara frowns.

"Oh. Okay then." She thinks she can reason with him later once the adrenaline from the attack wears off. "Was that raid a good thing?"

"Of course it was," Jet says. "Don't you want to make a difference? Have you looked around?"

Katara takes a moment to glance at her scorched, half-barren surroundings. The forest is in the midst of regrowth after being razed to the ground. They might as well be fertilized with the blood of people she loves.

"You're right. We can't let them find or stop us," Katara says, nodding. "What do we do with the prisoners?"

Jet smirks at her. "Don't worry about it."

"I want to know," Katara demands, irritated by him giving her orders.

"Don't worry about it. I have it all under control," Jet says ferociously. Katara decides not to continue fighting.

"Okay." She goes to find food and answers.

Jet cannot keep things from her.

No one can.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sokka searches the labyrinthine forest with a knife in one hand and boomerang in the other. Katara _has _to be here somewhere. He wishes he had held onto his companions for a while longer; he needs help scouring his surroundings to find his little sister.

He lays eyes on three teenagers creeping through the woods. When he finds a vantage point, he recognizes Azula and those two Fire Nation kids. They are working together. He _knew _she was a traitor. Why did he not do anything about his hunch?

Sokka climbs a tree and aims his boomerang.

Right before he delivers the blow, someone grabs him by the neck and plunges him into darkness.

* * *

Minutes later, Azula lays eyes on the Freedom Fighters' camp, takes a deep breath and staggers back. She glances back at Mai and Zuko and sees that they are still several feet away and quietly bickering. Azula looks ahead of her and confirms that she has stumbled right into Ty Lee.

Ty Lee seems to have gotten herself captured. Of course. She cannot exist without Azula; the princess should have thought about that earlier.

Then again, it may be a trap. Azula does not know if it is worth it.

She mentally debates her course of action until she hears Mai's voice and her breath catches. If she makes a move, she has to make it right now.

Azula curses at herself in her head as she bolts towards Ty Lee, taking cover as soon as she reaches it. She spins to her next spot, vaults over the next, and now kneels close enough to smell the ashes of the dead fire.

Slowly, she studies her captured fiancée.

It is now or never, and so Azula runs forward again, slashing the bonds on Ty Lee's wrists with fire with enough time to grab her mouth and keep her from screaming.

"I am saving you. Shut up and run with me," Azula hisses in her ear.

Ty Lee does not have to be told twice. She clings to Azula's hand as they run away.

"Azula, Azula, Katara and Aang are back there."

"I don't care," Azula says, running faster. "Zhao won't kill Aang."

"It wasn't Zhao. It's Katara's new friends. The cannibals. Well, they say they're not cannibals, but I totally think they're cannibals." Ty Lee beams; Azula glowers.

"Then I saved you from being eaten. I am the world's best fiancée. Hurry up, will you? Mai and Zuko are probably following us," frantically hisses Princess Azula.

"I want to see Mai and—"

"We are never seeing them again. At least, we are not seeing them until the Fire Nation belongs to me, so stay quiet," Azula orders, digging her sharp nails into Ty Lee's wrists. The acrobat whimpers, but feels too excited to see her fiancée to care.

Ty Lee wants to points out that Azula is the one talking, but she keeps that to herself. She is not _that _stupid; contesting Azula gets you killed.

Princess Azula at last stops when they are as deep into the woods as she can get. Ty Lee stops with her and they both struggle to catch their breath.

They have done way too much running and not enough chasing.

"Thank you for saving me," Ty Lee says, batting her eyelashes.

Azula shrugs.

"You gave me a good reason to come back. Can you remind me what it was?" asks the princess with a playful smirk that Ty Lee cannot resist.

The acrobat kisses her savior fiercely, passionately, breathlessly, eternally but not long enough. They want each other more than they want anything else in this world, at least for a few minutes.

That feeling fades and they sit back, face to face but far apart.

"I hope that was a good reminder," Ty Lee says, awkwardly ending their semi-romantic moment.

"It was," Azula replies, cold as could be.

Ty Lee takes a deep breath. Azula hears something snap in the woods.

"What is it, princess?" Ty Lee inquires.

"There's someone watching us," she whispers, glancing over her shoulder.

Ty Lee tenses up.

* * *

_"__Azula, I love you," Ty Lee says, reaching out to touch the princess. It is three years before their reunion in the forest._

_Princess Azula brushes her friend's hand away and steps back._

_ "__If you loved me, you wouldn't be running away to join the circus," Azula says, and Ty Lee closes her eyes. "Afraid to look at something?"_

_ "__No," Ty Lee replies, quickly opening them again. "No, princess. I just have to go soon."_

_ "__You don't _have _to go. No one is forcing you," Azula snaps._

_ "__Are you forcing me to stay?" Ty Lee asks, and she sounds hopeful._

_That hint of desire for Azula to say yes changes the princess's mind. Maybe Ty Lee would be happier at the circus; Maybe Azula would be happier without her._

_ "__No. You should go and follow your calling," Azula insists through clenched teeth._

_Ty Lee wishes she knew what to do, other than to run home and run away from her life in the Fire Nation._

* * *

Katara cannot find the answers she seeks, so she sits down for lunch with Jet. She does not want to directly ask about the prisoners, but she somehow needs to find out too.

Fortunately and unfortunately, she does not have to execute a flawless scheme.

"I have to make my speech," says Jet, standing up. He walks to the center of camp, taking Katara by the warm hand and guiding her behind him. His Freedom Fighters gaze at him with admiring eyes. "It's time to take care of the prisoners. It's time for the lottery."

Katara squints. She does not know what a lottery is.

Jet grabs her hand and pulls her from the crowd. He says, "You get to draw the names. The four winners go free and the rest get executed. It's effective."

Katara's eyes widen. She has wanted revenge for a very long time, but she never has killed anyone. Now that she has the chance, she realizes that she does not want to.

"I don't really want to," Katara says. Jet shrugs at her. She reaches for the clumsily carved bowl he holds out to her.

Her heart races as she reaches in to draw the names of those who get to live. It hits her then that she does not have to follow anyone's orders, especially not his.

Katara drops the bowl and raises eight blades of ice.

She turns to Jet and takes fate into her own hands.

* * *

Azula and Ty Lee prowl in the bushes, searching the woods for whoever was watching to them. They know that a trap could be anywhere, and are as on lookout for that as much as on lookout for a campsite.

The two girls find the latter. Ty Lee begins to gasp but Azula covers her mouth with her hand.

Azula breaks her silence after the sight shocks her.

"I recognize that man," she whispers in Ty Lee's ear. Her lips are comfortably and uncomfortably close to her fiancée's neck.

"What?" asks Ty Lee, startled.

Azula replies, "They call him the Deserter."


	22. Chapter 22

"The deserter?" asks Ty Lee, gazing at Azula quizzically.

They still kneel a ways away from the encampment in front of them, studying it from afar. The girls escaped cannibals and ran into something much more interesting.

"Yes," cleanly replies Azula. "The Fire Nation tends to kill people who leave the military. He was the best of the best in his time and left. He is _almost _as wanted of a traitor as me," Azula quietly replies. She examines the encampment and decides to intrude. "We need powerful allies whose beliefs align with ours."

Ty Lee nods. Azula grabs her by the arm and walks right into the camp.

They are, of course, met by notched arrows, drawn blades and lit flames.

Azula clearly and proudly declares to the defected soldiers, "I am Princess Azula and I want to talk to your leader."

Ty Lee has to admire her confidence.

* * *

Zuko turns to Mai. He speaks to her for the first time since they lost Azula and were found by a patrol of Fire Nation soldiers. She said a variety of complaints to him on the way and he gave a variety of nonverbal replies.

They sit on a ship, an hour away from Caldera. Zuko feels the tension within him growing and growing as he becomes closer to his old home.

"Going back to my father seems like a bad idea. It didn't go well for me last time," says Zuko, cracking his knuckles.

"It isn't a good idea. It's the only idea," Mai replies, surprising Zuko with her calmness at a time like this. "I know I hate authority, but when the Fire Lord demands your presence you give him your presence. Even you know that."

"Even me?" Zuko snaps too loudly. He does not even bother trying to cover for his outburst.

"You're not good at politics for someone who lived most of his life in the most complicated court on Earth." Mai sighs. He is not surprised by _that_.

"I don't like them."

"Neither do I. My parents just hated me so much that they made me learn to play the game." Mai turns to him. "You're in that boat too, even if you want to act ignorant. That's why we're doing this, Zuko. We're starting our own side because we've been used as tiles by other people for our whole lives."

"That's a lot of words for you. Passionate ones too."

"I know," says Mai, returning to her cool, flat tone.

Zuko likes it when things are normal.

* * *

That night, Ozai holds an audience without anyone else present. Just him and his son.

"You are a criminal and a former traitor," he begins, which does not bode well with Zuko. "But I will fully pardon you starting today."

"Father, I failed to bring her home."

"I know. Azula is rising against me. This Civil War will not be between us and rebels. It will be between me and my own daughter. I need my son."

"Why?"

"Your Uncle spent a good deal of time training you to oppose your sister. It is time to use that wisely. I am promoting you and awarding you with an army to fight against hers. I trust that you want the throne enough to fight under my banner."

"I…" Zuko hesitates because the offer is too good to be true. "I would be honored."

"Good. The ceremony for your promotion to General will be in three days time."

Zuko bows deeper and then begins to stand.

"Thank you, father."

"Wait," says Ozai. "You are to break things off with your girlfriend if you want those golden pins and loyal soldiers. Your engagement has been severed. She is too close to Azula to be trusted."

"Of course, father."

"Stay away from her or this sweet deal is off the table permanently, and you will live out your last days in a dark cell."

"I understand." Zuko stands, bows his head, and leaves the throne room.

He passes Mai when he leaves and quickly looks away.

She enters the throne room. He wonders what she will think about the broken engagement. It would ruin all they worked for.

* * *

After walking right into a camp of dangerous people, Ty Lee clings to Azula in the midst of their questioning. They stand in the middle of the camp with the Deserter himself asking the questions. He sounds collected but exudes a dangerous air.

He asks first, "Why did you leave?"

"My father's court is crumbling and I was a target. I think the Fire Nation is corrupt and decayed and I was born to change it."

"You are… overconfident, but not lying about your intentions."

"Accurate observation." Azula analyzes him for a moment and deems him worthy of the truth. "I _was _traveling with the Avatar, but my old _friend_ and attempted assassin Zhao broke apart our little team. If I am to be the right Fire Lord for the world, I need him as an ally and not an enemy. He is stronger than anyone else in this game of thrones."

"You want to be Fire Lord?"

"That _is _what I said, is it not?" Azula says coolly, crossing her arms.

He, unlike his followers, is not afraid of her. The Deserter replies, "Prove to me you would be the best of the contenders, and I will help you. You both can sleep here for tonight, but under guard and watch. The tests begin at sunrise."

Azula nods and bows her head for good measure.

She could use him.

* * *

Katara runs through the scorched forest as fast as she can. After she began to fight Jet, the lottery went awry and devolved into a gruesome battle. It was not her intention but she tries not to worry about that mistake now.

She flees to the bank of a stream and crouches down behind a large rock. The sound of the has faded so she thinks she is in the clear, but, before she can finish catching her breath, someone grabs her arm.

Katara spins around and bends water from the stream into a whip that crashes against the skin of the boy she thought she left to die.

"Easy, Katara, please," says Jet, gingerly touching his wounded shoulder. "I don't want to hurt you. I like you too much to ever harm you."

No words exist that can express her confusion right now.

"I just attacked you _twice_ and ended any chance of another lottery—which is a _good _thing but— I'm…" Katara frowns. "I'm not sure what to say."

"You stood up for what you believe in," he explains. "I really thought all of our beliefs aligned, but I like your passion and your guts. Maybe your passion gives you guts."

"I always do," Katara says honestly, slowly relaxing her posture. "I know we haven't known each other long, so it's good you figured it out. Let me heal that gash for you."

Katara steps towards him. He stands his ground but lowers his hand to expose the bleeding cut. She cannot hide her blush when she touches the water to his skin.

The sun begins to set on the horizon.

* * *

_Years and years ago, when they were both bickering children, Azula purrs to her livid brother, "When I hide something, it remains hidden. That is, until I want it to be found. I wish you luck on your search."_

_She stole his dearest possession._

_Zuko wishes she were a boy so he could hit her._

The prince has that memory on his mind when he looks around her bedroom. Ozai had it _scoured _by skilled experts but Zuko doubts their competence when it comes to his sister. If there were an award for craftiness, she would have it.

A soft hand rests on his arm. He turns to see his girlfriend.

"Are you looking for something?" Mai asks, studying him closely.

"Didn't anyone tell you? We're not allowed to see each other."

"Didn't anyone tell you? He made me a similar offer, and I'm under orders to search her things," says Mai. She is telling the truth.

"We know her better than he does, and if she's really the strongest contender in the war that's about to start, then we have an advantage. We _know _her."

"Which is why we did such a good job bringing her home," says Mai sarcastically. Zuko glares but the dirty look does not faze her.

"No, I mean that he's afraid of her or he wouldn't have been so generous towards us. He _fears _her. Not the Avatar, not anybody in the court making their own moves. He made a monster and he can't hide anymore…" Zuko lingers on those words. _Hide_. "We—do you know any of her hiding places? I don't."

"I know one. It's where she hid things from Ty Lee. Once, Ty Lee had this really gorgeous lip paint that drew attention to her and Azula stole it with a number of other things. It's the only one she's ever shown me."

"Can you take me to it?"

After a brief walk through shadowy halls, Mai removes the loose stone from beneath the bookcase that Zuko moved. She withdraws a few jewelry trinkets… then she pulls out a book written in someone else's handwriting. Not Ty Lee's or Azula's.

"Who does this belong to? Is it yours?" Mai asks, handing it to Zuko.

He opens it and thumbs through. Then he flips a few pages back and reads.

"This belongs to Zhao. It's…" Zuko hands it to Mai. "You better read it. I think we're not prepared for this war. He's not the only person vying for power and… if Azula had this, I…"

Mai skims it as Zuko waits with bated breath.

She at last sighs. "Well, we're screwed."

"Mai," Zuko says, standing up. "How much gold do you have access to?"

She closes the journal. "Why?"

"Because we're going rogue and I don't think our new soldiers are going to be big fans of it. We don't have the charisma or the Avatar of Azula or the absolute power of my father or the loyal followers of Zhao or the friends of the court but there are a lot of people out there who will follow anybody who pays them enough." Zuko cannot help but smirk. "We have a chance."

Mai almost smiles. "I don't hate that idea."

Zuko takes the comment as high praise coming from her.

* * *

That night, in the Earth Kingdom, Azula and Ty Lee sit in a guarded tent. The bedrolls are shabby and Azula's head keeps racing. She could pass any test of _firebending_—or math—but she needs to know _what _Jeong Jeong considers to be desirable qualities. Azula is indubitably a _contender_, but he wants the _right _contender for him.

Ty Lee unbraids and re-braids her hair as she always does before bed. Azula wonders how she can even _think _about sleep.

"Can I comb your hair? You don't have servants, princess," Ty Lee says, smiling brightly. She crawls from her bedroll to Azula's and waits for invitation like a puppy begging for a treat.

"Yes," Azula says out of the corner of her mouth.

"I used to stare at the back of your neck at school," Ty Lee says, reaching forward with both hands and gently pull Azula's hair from its bun. "Remember how the teachers always made me sit behind you so that we couldn't keep talking in class? Then we still talked so I had to sit on the other side of the room three rows back every single day. Anyway, I really think the back of your neck is pretty, but you look _really _pretty with your hair down."

"We have bigger worries than whether I should wear my hair up or down," Azula says, kneading her bedroll. "I have to win them over."

"There's no way you can't!" Ty Lee chirps, rummaging around Azula's bag until she finds a slim golden comb. "You're gonna get everybody on your side. I knew it. When I said I thought you should make your own side in this war, I really thought so. I believe in you like I believe in nothing else."

"Your unwavering faith borders on pathetic," Azula purrs. She makes the insult sound so beautiful that it leaves Ty Lee twice as smitten. "Whether or not I pass the test, we will find people who will follow me to the death. I have that effect on people, after all."

"I know, princess," gently says Ty Lee with such earnest that Azula's steely expression falters. "I think anybody can see that the Fire Nation won't survive unless you're the one ruling it."

Azula nods. "You can be smart sometimes. I need to sleep."

She lies awake all night.

* * *

At dawn, Azula stands before a strong potential ally. He examines her for an uncomfortable period of time before calmly asking his first question.

"I must know why you believe you deserve the throne. It is that simple," he inquires.

Azula looks directly into his eyes. "I spoke to my fiancée last night about the tests. She said the Fire Nation could not survive with me as its ruler. I disagree."

"You disagree?"

"I realized that we never once asked ourselves why the Fire Nation _deserves_ to survive. Maybe there is a reason our legends speak so much of phoenixes. The Fire Nation would_ not_ survive with me as its ruler; it would be reborn. The world is long overdue for change."

Azula means every word and he sees that truth.

Jeong Jeong pauses for some time. He then sighs and shakes his head, turning away from her.

"I will not help you, but I will let you live, leave my camp and continue your quest."

"I went to Crescent Island. When I first encountered the Avatar, I had a vision that made me choose to abandon my father's side. I… kept this." Azula reaches into the center of her bandeau, where she has kept the paper pinned out of sight. "I intended to show it to those who would not be swayed easily by pretty words."

Azula holds it out. He hesitates before deciding to take it.

Jeong Jeong reads the torn paper. He considers it. Azula waits patiently, her hands clasped behind her back, her posture straight, her eyes fixated on him.

He folds it up again. "Who else has seen this?"

"Ty Lee. I did not find it suitable to inform the Avatar and his friends. Avatar Roku apparently told him to look for me. I am not planning to start a war against my father; I am planning to end one. That is what my vision foretold and it is certainly backed up by this piece of paper."

"You can move on to the next test."

"And that would be?"

"Fighting me. Tomorrow at daybreak. I suggest you spend today preparing."

Azula doubts there is a foe she could not put down.

She gladly accepts the test.

* * *

That afternoon, Azula sits alone by the water. She feels like she might be insane because her thoughts do not stop racing. The weight of the world is on her shoulders. How does someone cope with that? How does someone prepare to start a war? Or to end one?

Ty Lee comes up behind her. Azula rolls her eyes and decides to ignore her fiancée.

"Are you okay?" Ty Lee asks, completely uninvited. "I want you to be okay. You didn't tell me how it went with Jeong Jeong but I guess they're not going to execute us." Ty Lee waits for an answer and does not get one. "You can talk to me. I care about you and I can see when you're feeling vulnerable. It's okay to be scared."

"I am not afraid of anything. If I was born to do this, I must do it without any reservations," Azula says, still not turning to look at her fiancée. "You should leave me alone."

"I'm not going to leave you alone. I love you." Ty Lee reaches forward and touches Azula's shoulder. "Please don't leave me forever. Just be honest and—"

Azula stands up and grabs Ty Lee's hand, yanking it from her shoulder and nearly crushing it from the force. But that is not makes the acrobat scream. Azula pulls back, unaware of the heat behind the violent gesture.

Ty Lee starts sobbing hysterically. Azula flees from the scene, racing from the stream to the woods and pinning her back to a tree.

Letting her emotions control her is the lowest thing she could do. She made the error of a _novice_. Her anger—her _fear_—got to her like it should never.

Ty Lee said she was afraid. Ty Lee was right. Being correct about that flaw of Azula's would be a death sentence for anyone, but she did not mean to lash out so suddenly and ferociously.

But regardless of her foolish and immature mistake, Azula never has experienced the feeling overwhelming her right now. She does not understand the acidic gnawing in her stomach and the dizziness and the tears pressing against the back of her eyes.

_"__You could live a thousand lifetimes and still not deserve that girl," _intrudes into her thoughts.

Prompted by nothing but instinct, she takes a huge breath and turns around.

She finds her fiancée. Ty Lee sits, isolated and alone, her fingers in her mouth, her wrist dripping with water from the clear stream. Azula stands in front of her, trying to figure out the words to say.

"I—I have no idea what—what to say," Azula says, so stunned by that that she barely can comprehend what is going on. "You _have _to forgive me. I—I am princess—I will be Fire Lord soon. You _must _forgive me; you have no choice."

Ty Lee slowly removes her fingers from her mouth, pained by it, but needing to speak. "I'd forgive you even if you were just a peasant girl. I love you and you're worth suffering for."

"I do not intend to make you suffer."

"Really?" Ty Lee is surprised.

"I never do." Azula thinks it would be an appropriate time to kiss her, but she does not act on the inclination. So, as compensation, she adds in a hushed tone, "I never do."

"I'll just be super honored to have burns from the best Fire Lord in history who overthrew the ruling empire and returned the Avatar to the world and then took the crown for herself. That Fire Lord who I think might kinda like like me."

"You think I… kinda like like you?" Azula's sardonic tone does not deter Ty Lee.

"I think you do," says Ty Lee, standing up.

She kisses Azula.

To both girls, it feels better than anything in the world.


End file.
